[EM] The ElectionNews draft newsletter
Rob Lanphier
roblan at gmail.com
Mon Dec 29 17:46:09 PST 2025
Hi folks,
Before I blast this out to a wider audience, I'd like to send my draft to
this mailing list. It's included below and at the following link:
https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaNews/2025-December
I haven't summarized what's been going on on the EM list, which maybe we
should. What does everyone thing the most notable discussions have been
this month? This year?
Rob
---------
Happy holidays, y'all! This is the first (and maybe only) version of the
*ElectoramaNews*, covering December 2025. Actually, since this is the first
edition, this may end up becoming a "year-in-review" newsletter. The
newsletter hasn't yet been published (as of 2025-12-05), so it's difficult
to say what will be in here.
This issue of *ElectoramaNews* provides a basic outline for future
newsletters, while sprinkling in some of the news from December 2025. It
mainly focuses on online conversations; future editions will hopefully
focus more on movement progress. This edition highlights the "ElectoramaCall
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaCall>", a new monthly video call. It
also provides a summary of every post to the /r/EndFPTP
<https://reddit.com/r/EndFPTP> subreddit in December. Other forums may get
more coverage as activity picks up on each of them.
Section01 -- Main feature: the "ElectoramaCall"
User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> hosted a video call
(the "ElectoramaCall <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaCall>") on
December 17 with leaders in the electoral-reform space. One product of that
conversation was a goal to publish a monthly newsletter. We also resolved
to have monthly conversations, which are currently slated for a similar
time each month (more on that in a bit).
The discussion (at first) was intended to have conversations similar to
those in Sass's Open Democracy Discussion
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sass_Open_Democracy_Discussion>, but at a
different time of day. Sass's call sometimes enjoys the attendance of an
Australian or two, which is easier to imagine when it's noon in Sydney than
it is for Europeans attending when it's well past midnight in Paris.
However, timezone differences aren't the only reason why some folks hope we
have a regular call. There have frequently been debates between the
"cardinal camp" (folks that like approval voting
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Approval_voting>, range/score voting
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Score_voting>, and STAR voting
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/STAR_voting>) and the "ordinal camp" (folks
that advocate for systems that work best with a ranked ballot, like
instant-runoff
voting <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting> and Condorcet
methods <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Condorcet_method>). Many folks in
these two camps are deeply disrespectful of folks in the opposing camp,
which is something that might get incrementally better if the two camps
have mutually respectful discussions with one another on a regular basis.
If you would like to join the January call (slated for Wednesday, January
21 at 2pm Pacific Time), please RSVP to User:RobLa
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa>, and he will add you to the
meeting invitation.
Section02 -- reddit EndFPTP update
the /r/EndFPTP subreddit on reddit.com <https://reddit.com/r/EndFPTP> is a
very active forum for discussing electoral reform, and frequent posters
seem to come from all quarters of the reform movement (both the cardinal
camp and the ordinal camp post here). Below Is a list of some of the posts
on EndFPTP. As of this writing on December 14, it is a mostly unedited
collection of posts pulled from reddit using a vibecoded script along with
some haphazard manual coalition and adaptation to MediaWiki format. There
are likely gaps in the coverage due to when and how RobLa
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> ran the script.
- 2025-12-28 14:34:06 [a000]
- title: *I built an Agent-Based Model in Python to simulate how
Electoral Systems influence Separatism and Civil War risk. Here are the
results. (I need you to find the reason for close pr stv)*
- body: If you disagree with this conclusion, I’d really appreciate
specific, actionable critique: please point out exactly where
you think the
model breaks—whether it’s in the assumptions, the metric/formula, or the
input data. I’m happy to revise the analysis i… ([[1]
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pxsqls%7Cfullbodylen=8929>
])
- user: [[2] <https://reddit.com/u/mercurygermes%7C/u/mercurygermes>];
score: 9
- url: https://i.redd.it/9uthbcu9hy9g1.png
- 2 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pxsqls
- 2025-12-23 21:47:49 [a001]
- title: *Idea: Lazy MMP*
- body: Probably not the best name for this system. I’m also pretty
sure somewhere already uses/used something like this, but I
couldn’t track
down where I saw it. Whether it even qualifies as lazy is a question in
itself. The system (which can be implemented in … ([[3]
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pu63jn%7Cfullbodylen=1343>
])
- user: [[4]
<https://reddit.com/u/Additional-Kick-307%7C/u/Additional-Kick-307>];
score: 1
- url:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pu63jn/idea_lazy_mmp/
- 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pu63jn
- 2025-12-22 20:19:47 [a002]
- title: *Idea: A framework to convert any single-winner method into
PR?*
- body: After learning about Sequential Monroe voting
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sequential_Monroe_voting>, I think I’ve
came up with a general framework that can theoretically turn any
single-winner method (let’s call it *Method X*) into a multi-winner
prop… ([[5]
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pt9u3t%7Cfullbodylen=1702>
])
- user: [[6] <https://reddit.com/u/No-Vast7006%7C/u/No-Vast7006>];
score: 1
- url:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pt9u3t/idea_a_framework_to_convert_any_singlewinner/
- 15 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pt9u3t
- 2025-12-19 22:28:40 [a003]
- title: *Fairness of STV when parties run multiple candidates ?*
- body: Edit: thank you to Pantherkittysoftware who pointed me
towards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPO-STV which is a system
designed to overcome some of the problems I talked about,
specifically how
STV may result in lone ‘maverick’ candidates being eliminat… ([[7]
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pqyaha%7Cfullbodylen=2674>
])
- user: [[8] <https://reddit.com/u/ravencrowed%7C/u/ravencrowed>];
score: 2
- url:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pqyaha/fairness_of_stv_when_parties_run_multiple/
- 49 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pqyaha
- 2025-12-17 11:44:12 [a004]
- title: *My Framework for Electoral Design: Internalize Political
Externalities*
- body: I believe in the power of the *“invisible hand”*: in many
cases, dispersed self-interest can be steered—through institutions and
incentives—toward socially efficient outcomes. But this belief has a hard
precondition: **external costs must be internalize… ([[9]
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pouhxm%7Cfullbodylen=8959>
])
- user: [[10]
<https://reddit.com/u/Previous_Word_3517%7C/u/Previous_Word_3517>];
score: 1
- url:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pouhxm/my_framework_for_electoral_design_internalize/
- 7 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pouhxm
- 2025-12-12 20:40:49
- title: *Utah SD 11 Special Approval Voting Results*
- body: Some pretty interesting results. Average of 1.74 candidates
approved. In addition, it seems like there were no two clear
“frontrunners,” and the winner got close to 50% while having a lead over
others, making the results showcase a similar approval for al… (
fullbodylen=300 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pl2k48>)
- user: /u/Ibozz91 <https://reddit.com/u/Ibozz91>; score: 24
- url: https://i.redd.it/9ag1zbos3u6g1.png
- 11 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pl2k48
- 2025-12-11 16:57:51
- title: *From Texas Gridlock to Utah’s Blueprint: A Tale of Two
States and Redistricting Reform*
- user: /u/ILikeNeurons <https://reddit.com/u/ILikeNeurons>; score: 4
- url:
https://electionscience.org/newsroom/from-texas-gridlock-to-utah%E2%80%99s-blueprint-a-tale-of-two-states-and-redestricting-reform
- 1 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pk2m70
- 2025-12-10 22:27:43
- title: *Expert committees purged by low voter turnout*
- body: I’ve been working on a thought experiment that uses a novel
voting mechanism for accountability. The core mechanic is that expert
committees are automatically replaced if a specific measure of
public trust
falls below a threshold. I’m posting here because… (fullbodylen=1552
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjgm4o>)
- user: /u/Agitates <https://reddit.com/u/Agitates>; score: 0
- url:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjgm4o/expert_committees_purged_by_low_voter_turnout/
- 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjgm4o
- 2025-12-10 21:34:39
- title: *Condorcet Cycle in the wild - 2021 Minneapolis City Council
Ward 2*
- user: /u/Antagonist_ <https://reddit.com/u/Antagonist_>; score: 18
- url: https://ranked.vote/report/us/mn/2021/11/ward-2
- 32 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjfaax
- 2025-12-10 20:23:23
- title: *Is there a better way to market Condorcet-IRV hybrids than
just saying Condorcet IRV?*
- body: I know IRV is also known as Ranked Choice Voting, but what
about Condorcet? Or Smith? Or Woodall, Benham, TidemanAlt etc?
How would we
name them as household names? My guess is to name them “Top Cycle Ranked
Choice Voting” but that’s too long. Doesnt soun… (fullbodylen=863
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjdg8w>)
- user: /u/SidTheShuckle <https://reddit.com/u/SidTheShuckle>; score:
8
- url:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjdg8w/is_there_a_better_way_to_market_condorcetirv/
- 37 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjdg8w
- 2025-12-10 16:54:43
- title: *Schwarzenegger blasts redistricting ‘war’*
- body: He kinda pointed out yhe problem eith FPTP
- user: /u/SamsonOccom <https://reddit.com/u/SamsonOccom>; score: 2
- url: https://youtube.com/shorts/72FxgVVmo_I?si=Wg43fClFSOruASVR
- 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pj7q8n
- 2025-12-09 22:59:40
- title: *Shaky political “science” misses mark on ranked choice
voting*
- body: In this study, co-author Paul Haughey and I assess the
quality and credibility of 41 different studies on RCV. We note a
disturbing pattern. A number of misleading studies, including by
well-known
political scientists, fall well short of real “science.” … (
fullbodylen=888 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pim4fq>)
- user: /u/DemocracyWorks1776
<https://reddit.com/u/DemocracyWorks1776>; score: 5
- url:
https://open.substack.com/pub/democracysos/p/shaky-political-science-misses-mark?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
- 4 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pim4fq
- 2025-12-06 07:39:42
- title: *Economist article on FPTP: “Britain’s slot-machine
politics”*
- body: The article is fairly critical of FPTP, focusing on how
things get random when you have multiple parties. That’s just one of many
criticisms of FPTP, obviously, but a good sign when a newspaper like The
Economist is writing articles like this. Behind a p… (fullbodylen=3019
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pfjkgz>)
- user: /u/Dystopiaian <https://reddit.com/u/Dystopiaian>; score: 18
- url:
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/12/04/britains-slot-machine-politics
- 7 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pfjkgz
- 2025-12-04 04:05:45
- title: *Score Then Automatic Runoff (STAR) Voting Used For First
Time In Election For Public Office to Elect Astoria City Council Member!*
- body: “On Monday, city councilors interviewed Conklin and the other
applicants during a public meeting. The councilors listened to public
comments from attendees and then used a “score then automatic runoff” (or
STAR) voting system to narrow the field to the to… (fullbodylen=520
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pdq6h5>)
- user: /u/Stunning_Walrus6276
<https://reddit.com/u/Stunning_Walrus6276>; score: 49
- url:
https://mailchi.mp/equal.vote/star-elects-astoria-city-councilor
- 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pdq6h5
- 2025-12-03 13:46:36
- title: *Ranked choice voting outperforms the winner-take-all system
used to elect nearly every US politician*
- body: When it comes to how palatable a different voting system is,
how does RCV fair compared to other types? I sometimes have a hard time
wrapping my head around all the technical terms I see in this sub, but it
makes me wonder if other types of voting could r… (fullbodylen=360
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pd4la9>)
- user: /u/12lbTurkey <https://reddit.com/u/12lbTurkey>; score: 140
- url:
https://theconversation.com/ranked-choice-voting-outperforms-the-winner-take-all-system-used-to-elect-nearly-every-us-politician-267515
- 138 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pd4la9
- 2025-12-03 02:19:15
- title: *How do I refute the argument that Arrow’s Impossibility
Theorem and the Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem prove electoral systems are
the “worst” system?*
- body: The person I’m debating claims that *Arrow’s Impossibility
Theorem* and the *Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem* prove that electoral
systems are mathematically broken and therefore are the worst
possible way
to govern. His proposed solution is a system w… (fullbodylen=6562
<https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pcrys8>)
- user: /u/No-Vast7006 <https://reddit.com/u/No-Vast7006>; score: 7
- url:
https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pcrys8/how_do_i_refute_the_argument_that_arrows/
- 30 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pcrys8
Section03 -- Voting Theory Forum update
The Voting Theory Forum is a popular watering hole for many folks in the
electoral-reform. The activity on this website seems to have simmered down
from it's early days (in 2020 and 2021), but there are still frequently
notable discussions here.
- URLs:
- https://VotingTheory.org <https://votingtheory.org/>
- News:
- (ADD HERE)
Section04 -- Center for Election Science updates
This newsletter intends to track the major electoral-reform organizations,
and the Center for Election Science
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Center_for_Election_Science> (CES) is one of
them. CES is largely focused on approval voting as their preferred method,
but they support other reforms. One can presumably follow the latest things
going on with them by following them on Twitterx.com
<https://x.com/electionscience> or by consulting their "Newsroom"
<https://electionscience.org/newsroom>.
- URLs for approval-voting organizations:
- https://electionscience.org
- News:
- Utah The last thing they mention in their "Newsroom" (as of
December 15) is the use of approval voting in Utah
<https://electionscience.org/newsroom/from-texas-gridlock-to-utah%E2%80%99s-blueprint-a-tale-of-two-states-and-redestricting-reform>
.
- Colorado - Manny Rutenel
- Maryland - Reintroducing legislation for 2026
- NAACP's call for voting reform that includes RCV/IRV and Approval
Voting:
- https://naacp.org/resources/states-voting-rights-act
Section05 -- FairVote updates
Of course, if we're going to talk about big organizations in electoral
reform, we have to talk about FairVote
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/FairVote>. They also have an x.com profile
<https://x.com/fairvote> and a "newsroom" of sorts, from which the latest
thing (as of December 15) is an editorial about gerrymandering
<https://fairvote.org/why-im-hopeful-about-democracy/> and asserts "*We can
end gerrymandering. We can create a nation where every district is a swing
district.*"
- URLs for RCV/IRV organizations:
- https://fairvote.org
- News:
- ADD HERE
Section06 -- Equal Vote Coalition/STAR Action updates
The big news for the Equal Vote Coalition
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Equal_Vote_Coalition> and STAR Action is the
news from Astoria <https://x.com/5starvoting/status/1997391859983761663>.
The EVC/STAR folks have not one but two x.com accounts they post things to:
@5starvoting <https://x.com/5starvoting> and @TheEqualVote
<https://x.com/TheEqualVote>.
- URLs for EVC/STAR organizations:
- https://equal.vote
- https://www.starvoting.org/
- News: website launches in 2025
- https://bettervoting.com
- https://realrcv.equal.vote/
Section07 -- Better Choices for Democracy
Better Choices for Democracy
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Better_Choices_for_Democracy> is a new
organization that officially launhed in November 2025. They are
focused on Condorcet
methods <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Condorcet_method>; specifically, what
they call "Consensus Choice Voting". The latest news from the BCD newsroom
<https://betterchoices.vote/news> is a video editorial from University of
Maryland Professor Eric Pacuit titled "*Consensus Choice Explained:
Head-to-Head Voting vs Plurality & Ranked Choice
<https://www.betterchoices.vote/news/same-voters-different-winners-why-rules-matter>*
".
- URLs
- https://betterchoices.vote
- News: BCD has launched a new web app for conducting online polls:
- https://ccv-app.netlify.app/
Section08 -- Wikipedia updates
There has been a lot of editing happening on election-method articles and
adjacent articles on English Wikipedia. Here's a few feeds that one can
look at to see some of the latest changes:
-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Electoral_systems
-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Psephology
-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Voting_theory
-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Template:Voting_criteria_table
- section08-item01
- (ADD HERE)
Section09 -- Electorama/electowiki/EM/ES/abif
electowiki <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Electowiki> is still the most
prominent wiki associated with electoral reform that User:RobLa
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> knows about (other than English
Wikipedia <https://electowiki.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia>). Looking at the
RecentChanges feed for electowiki
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Special:RecentChanges>, it would seem that
User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> has been the most
active editor in December (as of December 15), but User:Dr. Edmonds
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:Dr._Edmonds> made some changes to
the Sequentially
Shrinking Quota
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sequentially_Shrinking_Quota> article.
Back in November, User:Kristomun
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:Kristomun> and User:Dr. Edmonds
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:Dr._Edmonds> were more active than
User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa>, with changes to
the "Sequentially
Spent Score <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sequentially_Spent_Score>" article
and the "Kotze-Pereira transformation
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Kotze-Pereira_transformation>" article, among
others. Also, User:RodCrosby
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/RodCrosby> resumed work
on their QPR2 article <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RodCrosby/QPR2>.
The election-methods mailing list
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Election-methods_mailing_list> (a.k.a. the "EM
list") has seen modest activity in November and December:
- November:
-
http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/2025-November/date.html
- December:
-
http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/2025-December/date.html
The election-software mailing list
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Election-software_mailing_list> (a.k.a. the
"ES list") has been pretty quiet, other than User:RobLa
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa>'s promotion of the "Electorama Call
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa/Electorama_call>" happening on
December 17.
Activity on ABIF <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ABIF>, abiftool
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Abiftool>, and the ABIF Web Tool (awt)
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/ABIF_Web_Tool> has been relatively quiet,
though there was a little performance/caching work on awt in November
<https://github.com/electorama/awt/commit/1ca34c24c212dbc4cdc04d813ca76be64ad115ac>
.
- section09-item01
- (ADD HERE)
Section10 -- additional items/other orgs
- Orgs
- Secure Internet Voting (https://siv.org)
- Respect Voters Coalition (https://respectvoters.org)
- Misc links submitted during ElectoramaCall
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaCall> in December 2025:
- Robert Bristow-Johnson's submitted paper for *Constitutional
Political Economy*:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jIhFQfEoxSdyRz5SqEjZotbVDx4xshwM/view
- One page primer (talking points) on "precinct summability
<https://electowiki.org/wiki/Precinct_summability>":
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YtejO54DSOFRkHBGryS9pbKcBM7u1jTS/view
- 2022 Letter to Governor Phil Scott of Vermont about H.744 from 2021:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Niss1nWjbsb63rPeKTKLT7S2KVDZIo7G/view
- Templates for plausible legislative language implementing
Ranked-Choice Voting:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DGvs2F_YoKcbl2SXzCcfm3nEMkO0zCbR/view
- Partha Dasgupta and Eric Maskin 2004 *Scientific American* article
"The Fairest Vote of All":
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m6qn6Y7PAQldKNeIH2Tal6AizF7XY2U4/view
- Articles regarding the Alaska RCV election in August 2022 that
suffered a similar majority failure:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/House%20Government%20Operations/Bills/S.32/Witness%20Documents/S.32~Eric%20Maskin~
- Benham's method <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Benham%27s_method>
- Text for tabled bill in Vermont:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.424
- News
- (ADD HERE)
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