Hi,<br><br>I've appreciated all the feedback I've received on voting systems as they pertain to student government.<br>Anyway, I'll be working on drafting an official resolution for a new system over the summer, with the intent on
<br>proposing something in the Fall for a student vote in the Fall elections (the University of Michigan has Fall and Winter semester elections),<br>with expected implementation (given a 60% yes vote of students) for the Winter elections (which include executive officers).
<br><br>Anyway, as this does require a 2/3 vote of the Assembly, I face quite a battle. As of now, many see changing the voting system as something<br>trivial that won't do much. Also, they are skeptical of any system that reduces student control over the result (such as party list or asset voting).
<br>Granted, many of the skeptics won seats with the majority party - but I don't think that makes it impossible.<br><br>Given the fact that I'm going to face an uphill battle - and will need to cite examples that show that my new system has benefits - what would be the best
<br>approach? <br><br>I do think that for multi-winner, STV is likely the best choice here - as it is used my many student governments succesfully. Among other methods, I like the idea of reweighted range voting, but it hasn't been implemented anywhere of significance. Systems where voters don't have full control over the results (such as party list and asset), definitely won't fly.
<br><br>For single-winner, despite its flaws it seems like instant-runoff voting is the best bet, as it is the same as STV with one winner and is one again a widely used system. Range voting once again seems like a good idea, but also has the major drawback (at least as far as supporting arguments) of not being used in a real election of any significance. I don't even want to THINK about Condorcet, due to the fact that a random unknown candidate can easily win in a race with two polarized candidates.
<br><br>Any comments? I figure that for STV, I'll suggest simple fractional transfers (no Meek etc) and only ranking as many candidates as there are seats (40-odd ranks would be quite confusing, and most students will only vote for a few favorites).
<br><br>Tim<br>