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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-GB link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>There is a recognised format for the publication of the full ballot data for STV-PR elections, i.e. BLT format, first described in this paper (at section 3.1):<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Hill, Wichmann & Woodall (1987) "Algorithm 123 - Single Transferable Vote by Meek's method" </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.NSF/Files/meekm/$file/meekm.pdf<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>The format is quite “primitive” (stream of numbers, with minimal text and no explanation) because it predates even the DOS operating system.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>The full ballot data, in this preference profile format, have been published by the Returning Officers for every multi-member ward in every one of the 32 Local Authorities in Scotland for the STV-PR elections held in 2012 and 2017. The data for the wards in the City of Glasgow were published following the 2007 elections although that was not then a legal requirement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Unfortunately, there is (as yet) no central depository of these STV-PR ballot data, but the BLT files are available among the “election results” on the respective 32 Council websites.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>James Gilmour<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Edinburgh, Scotland<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 4.0pt'><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Election-Methods [mailto:election-methods-bounces@lists.electorama.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Carl Schroedl<br><b>Sent:</b> 27 May 2021 23:16<br><b>To:</b> John Karr <brainbuz@brainbuz.org><br><b>Cc:</b> EM <election-methods@lists.electorama.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [EM] Ballot Data Format<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>Hi All,<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>Another source of inspiration could be the Pivot Libre project's Ballot File Format. Documentation is hosted on GitHub pages.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><a href="https://pivot-libre.github.io/bff/" target="_blank">https://pivot-libre.github.io/bff/</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>Issues and contributions can be made on GitHub.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><a href="https://github.com/pivot-libre/pivot-libre.github.io/issues">https://github.com/pivot-libre/pivot-libre.github.io/issues</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>I'm interested in staying in the loop on any ranked ballot community standards efforts. I don't have time to drive the conversation right now.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>Whether or not the specifics of BFF are to the community's liking, I recommend considering using a similar approach with GitHub as a collaboration and website site hosting platform. I believe several organizations have used this approach successfully for some fairly complex standards.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>Example:<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><a href="https://cfconventions.org/index.html">https://cfconventions.org/index.html</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><a href="https://github.com/cf-convention">https://github.com/cf-convention</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>All the best,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>Carl<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>On Thu, May 27, 2021, 3:34 PM John Karr <<a href="mailto:brainbuz@brainbuz.org" target="_blank">brainbuz@brainbuz.org</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm'><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:105%'>As the author of Vote::Count, a standardized format for ballots would be <br>a big plus. When I've been able to collect sample data, the first thing <br>I need to do is convert it to my format. Currently Vote::Count has two <br>formats, a text one for ranked ballots and a json/yaml format for range <br>ballots. The documentation on my formats is here: <br><a href="https://metacpan.org/pod/Vote::Count::ReadBallots" target="_blank">https://metacpan.org/pod/Vote::Count::ReadBallots</a><br><br>I'm not on Reddit, but I think creating a working group of people with <br>an interest to propose a standard would be a great idea, and I'm <br>interested in helping.<br><br>A standard format would allow creation of a library of data for which <br>electowiki would seem to be a natural home.<br><br>On 5/27/21 4:02 PM, <a href="mailto:election-methods-request@lists.electorama.com" target="_blank">election-methods-request@lists.electorama.com</a> wrote:<br><br><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote></div></div></div></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br />
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