[EM] Fair and Democratic versus Majority Rules

[Bob Richard]

On 11/15/2010 4:58 PM, fsimmons at pcc.edu wrote:
> When majority rules, a 51 percent majority can have their way in election after election. But what other
> possible standard is there for democracy and fairness besides "majority rule?"

For seats in legislative bodies, proportional representation.

> One answer is that every sector of the population ought to have a chance at being in charge, and that
> chance should be in rough proportion to the size of the sector of the population.

What does "being in charge" mean? If it means "making the rules", see my 
response above. If it means "implementing/administering/enforcing the 
rules", then I think any form of lottery would lead to chaos and 
possibly rebellion during the occasional terms in office of officials 
representing small minorities. Sortition is very feasible for specific 
kinds of legislative assemblies, specifically those whose purpose is to 
propose measures to be voted on in referenda. I don't think it can work 
for deciding who gets to run the executive branch.

--Bob Richard

> A simple baseline method for accomplishing this goal is the "random ballot" method.
>
> But there are other methods that accomplish the same thing without so much randomness, and with
> higher degrees of consensus.
>
> Here's a method to consider:
>
> Voters submit score ballots and plurality ballots separately.
>
> Anybody or any organization may also submit as many lotteries as desired.
>
> A random ballot lottery is calculated from the plurality ballots.
>
> Let W be the set of lotteries that score at least as high as the random ballot lottery on at least 99
> percent of the score ballots.
>
> Let L be the member of W with the least entropy (breaking ties if necessary with random score ballot).
>
> Use lottery L to elect the winner.
> ----
> Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
>


-- 
Bob Richard
Executive Vice President
Californians for Electoral Reform
PO Box 235
Kentfield, CA 94914-0235
415-256-9393
http://www.cfer.org