[EM] Fwd: Go ahead with forward to the Election Methods Listserv
fsimmons at pcc.edu
fsimmons at pcc.edu
Mon Nov 1 14:44:56 PDT 2010
Dear Election Methods Fans,
I'm forwarding this message from a party that would like software and/practical suggestions for implementing the sequential version of Proportional Approval.
As you remember Sequential Proportional Approval is a multi-winner method in which the winners are picked sequentially in rounds. In each round each approval ballot B is given a weight of 1/(k+1) , where k is the number of candidates approved on ballot B that have already been elected, so far. In particular, in the first round, where k is perforce zero, since no winners have been picked before the first round, all of the ballots have a weight of 1/(0+1) = 1, so the usual approval winner is always one of the winners.
Thanks,
Forest
----- Original Message -----
From: "H. Lastman"
Date: Sunday, October 31, 2010 11:53 pm
Subject: Go ahead with forward to the Election Methods Listserv
To: Forest Simmons
Cc: Iain Calder
> Dear Forest W. Simmons:
>
> This e-mail is a reply to your e-mail sent to me on the
> following date: October
> 28, 2010.
>
> Iain Calder, the President of the Toronto Free-Net, and myself
> are both in
> favour of your suggestion to post to the "election methods listserv".
>
> I, Howard Lastman, am a member of the Board of Directors of the
> Toronto Free-Net
> Inc.
>
> The Toronto Free-Net Inc. is a not-for-profit, volunteer run,
> organization that
> is Toronto's oldest internet service provider.
>
> The following is the homepage URL for the Toronto Free-Net Inc.:
>
> http://www.torfree.net/
>
> There are eight positions on the Board of Directors of the
> Toronto Free-Net. The
> Board has staggered terms of three years. Hence, the maximum
> "district
>
> magnitude" is three in any election. Smaller district magnitudes
> are possible in
> some years. In order to fill casual vacancies there may be as
> many as three
>
> (temporal and not spatial) districts being elected at once with
> each voter
> receiving a separate ballot (or on-line equivalent) for each
> temporal district.
>
> Director Chris Johnson's motion contained in "TFN-BOD-Motion-
> 1.jpg" requires the
> following minor modifications to pure Sequential Proportional
> Approval Voting:
>
> (1) each voter is prohibited from voting for more candidates
> than there are
> positions (this limitation does not exist in pure Sequential
> Proportional
>
> Approval Voting); and
>
> (2) for the on-line version, the computer must display a
> (confirmation) screen
> containing the candidates that the voter has selected and no others.
>
> Further, our President, Iain Calder, has suggested the need for
> pro-active
> tie-breaking random inputs. This means that at the
> Annual General Meeting of the
> Toronto Free-Net, immediately before voting for the Board of
> Directors begins,
> the CRO shall conduct a lottery which shall produce a rank
> ordering of all the
> candidates contesting a given election. The rank ordering from
> the lottery shall
> be declared to the membership and entered into the computer and
> shall be used to
> break all ties. Any computer software must accommodate this.
>
> Also, our President, Iain Calder requires that any software be
> free software,
> run on standard off-the-shelf hardware, and run on Linux OS. For
> reasons of
> transparency, the software must be open source.
>
> In order to avoid re-inventing the wheel, it would be great if
> someone could
> write the program as a "plug-in" for OpenSTV (which is free
> software). See the
> following URL:
>
>
> http://www.openstv.org/approval-voting
>
> If someone would code such a plug-in, we would be eager to
> acknowledge the
> programmer, and we would enjoy making the anonymized data
> available for research
> purposes only. However, the very concept of free software would
> mean that we
> could not be bound by these or any other conditions.
>
> Hope to hear from you soon.
>
> Yours truly,
>
>
> Howard Lastman, LL.B., MBA,
> Barrister & Solicitor.
> hemlastman at yahoo.ca
>
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: Iain Calder
> To: H. Lastman
> Sent: Sun, October 31, 2010 8:13:49 PM
> Subject: Re: Forward of e-mail reply from Forest W. Simmons
>
> Sure.
>
> Make sure he is aware of the free software that we have
> already found and that could be put to use with the mere
> addition of a plug-in, so that people don't go reinventing
> the wheel out of ignorance.
>
> -ic
>
> On Sun, 31 Oct 2010, H. Lastman wrote:
>
> > What do you think about Forest Simmons suggestion to post to the
> > "election methods listserv"?
> >
> > I had to use the phrase "open source" in my e-mail to Forest Simmons
> > because Portland Community College blocks all e-mails that
> include the
> > phrase "free software."
> [..]
> > ----- Forwarded Message ----
> > From: "fsimmons at pcc.edu"
> > To: H. Lastman
> > Sent: Thu, October 28, 2010 5:47:31 PM
> > Subject: Re: Sequential Proportional Approval Voting
> >
> > Dear Mr. Lastman,
> >
> > I would like to forward your request to the election methods
> listserv> which is brimming with software engineers and other
> programmers that are
> > chomping at the bit for opportunities like this.
> >
> > Is that OK with you?
> >
> > My Best,
> >
> > Forest
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "H. Lastman"
> > Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010 5:02 am
> > Subject: Sequential Proportional Approval Voting
> > To: fsimmons at pcc.edu
> > Cc: Iain Calder
> >
> > > Dear Forest W. Simmons:
> > >
> > >
> > > I am a member of the Board of Directors of a not-for-profit
> > > corporation. We are
> > > trying to implement the "Sequential Proportional Approval
> > > Voting" system within
> > > our organization. I am contacting you, because you are the
> > > discoverer of
> > > "Proportional Approval Voting" and a leading expert and
> > > proponent of
> > > Proportional Approval Voting systems. Can you or anyone else
> > > that you know of
> > > help us acquire or generate open source software for the
> > > tallying of ballots
> > > under Sequential Proportional Approval Voting?
> > >
> > > Further, is there any sort of empirical data collection that we
> > > can help you
> > > with in the running of an actual Sequential Proportional
> > > Approval Voting
> > > election?
> > >
> > > Hope to hear from you soon.
> > >
> > > Yours truly,
> > >
> > >
> > > Howard Lastman.
> > > hemlastman at yahoo.ca
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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