<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Hello Adrian, as asked:<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
1. Your name and the city and country you work in.<br>
</blockquote>
Stéphane Rouillon, Montreal, Canada.<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
2. What is your Company or Organization?</blockquote>
I work at SNC-Lavalin in system engineering (traffic actually).<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
3. Any contact info you wish to give to be published with article
for readers (for example your email or website.)
<br>
</blockquote>
I presented a paper at the Mid-West Political Science Association in
2007 at Chicago:<br>
"A Prefererential and Proportional Electoral System Without
Geographical Divisions"
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
<meta name="ProgId" content="PowerPoint.Slide">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft PowerPoint 12">
(french acronym SPPA)<br>
I am not sure the Web address still works:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/9/9/3/9/p199397_index.html">http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/9/9/3/9/p199397_index.html</a><br>
French version available at:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.bibliotheque.assnat.qc.ca/01/MONO/2004/07/771217/001M.pdf">http://www.bibliotheque.assnat.qc.ca/01/MONO/2004/07/771217/001M.pdf</a>.<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
4. If you have signed the Declaration, is there any additional
information, beyond what's in your signature, that you feel is
important to mention?
<br>
</blockquote>
I was an expert-witness in a case of dismissal of FPTP canadian
voting system, because its failure to represent some part of the
population<br>
is considered by the plaintiff against the charter of rights. The
case is moving to the supreme court.<br>
I presented SPPA to the ambassador of another country.<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
5. If you have not signed the Declaration, why?
<br>
</blockquote>
-<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
6. Briefly explain what characteristics you think are most
important for a voting method to have?
<br>
</blockquote>
A voting method should be efficient, representative and competitive.
It should gather detailed information from voters in only one visit
to the poll station.<br>
It should be highly strategy resistant so false information or
partisan coordination should hardly have an impact on the result. It
should promote<br>
competition between political parties and between candidates from
within the same party.<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
7. What do you think is the most important election reform needed
where you live (either locally or nationally)? Why is this reform
important?
<br>
</blockquote>
At the municipal level, a preferential and semi-proportional voting
system (like STV) would hinder collusion and corruption.<br>
At higher levels (provincial and federal), breaking the geographical
link is an additional need because geographical polarization and
confrontation<br>
has become a major problem. Those reform are essential because these
governments control 50% of all a year spending, thus these major
expenses<br>
should be well chosen by persons who represent the collective will.<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Question
8. What is your opinion on other aspects of election reform such
as reforming money's role in politics or redistricting
(particularly in the US but very interested as well concerning
election reforms internationally)?<br>
</blockquote>
A simple preferential ballot (independently of the electoral method)
could generate more positive politics despite the role of money:
instead of attacking the leader,<br>
candidates would benefit more from underlining good ideas from
weaker candidates, thus producing debates with a positive dynamic.
Redistricting is useful on municipal levels when a geographical link
helps voters to transmit their proximity problems to the relevant
administration. On a national base, now that most important issues
cross boundaries in a matter of minutes or days (ideas, migratory
animals, prices, products, unemployment, emails, money, viruses,
pollution, radio-active clouds, planes, missiles, broadcasts,
religious directives, refugees, ...), our geographical
representation and typical four year mandates do not answer our
needs anymore as time passes... We need to adapt representative
democracy to the 21st century.<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4F7D3D50.5000507@VoteFair.org" type="cite">Clarifications:
<br>
<br>
* Please change the subject heading if you are writing something
other than your answers to these questions.
<br>
<br>
* This article is about our Declaration, and about the
election-method reform concepts you think are the most important.
If you want to propose an article about a different topic, I'm
sure that Adrian would be happy to consider it.
<br>
<br>
* Please remember, as stated in the Declaration, that our enemy is
plurality voting (or First Past The Post, or the single-mark
ballot), not instant-runoff voting, and not the supporters of
methods you don't like. For example, consider that many
election-reform advocates believe that instant-runoff voting is
suitable for U.S. governmental elections, so if you dismiss that
method as no better than plurality, then your other statements may
lose credibility.
<br>
<br>
* Remember to avoid jargon (unless you can explain it in a few
words) and avoid acronyms. Many readers of the Democracy
Chronicles won't know about concepts that we all know by name.
<br>
<br>
* I suggest taking a look at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.DemocracyChronicles.com">www.DemocracyChronicles.com</a> to see
what the online newspaper is about. Physically it's based in New
York, but the subjects cover the globe.
<br>
<br>
* You do not need to answer every question. If you just want to
answer one or two questions, that's fine.
<br>
<br>
* I have given Adrian a link to this month's list of forum
messages, so he will be seeing the answers himself. (I am not
filtering the answers.)
<br>
<br>
* Adrian might join the forum himself, and hopefully the article
will attract other election-reform advocates to participate in our
forum, so consider that this development is the beginning of a
relationship with people who understand the importance of election
reform (which is broader than just election-method reform).
<br>
<br>
In my opinion, this is a great opportunity to connect with
election reformers who can benefit from our election-method
expertise.
<br>
<br>
FYI, I contacted the Democracy Chronicles and suggested this
article, and I made suggestions about the first draft of the
questions, but I have made it clear that this is a collaborative
forum, and the Declaration has been a collaborative effort among
all of us who have signed it. Although I have already written
general comments that may end up in the article, I have not yet
answered these questions, so I too will answer them here.
<br>
<br>
Richard Fobes
<br>
<br>
<br>
----
<br>
Election-Methods mailing list - see <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electorama.com/em">http://electorama.com/em</a> for
list info
<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>