On 08/16/2016 08:14 AM, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
On 7/18/16 9:29 AM, Ian Jackson wrote:
As has been discussed here many times previously, Condorcet is a bad
system for multi-seat elections. Rather than electing a board whose
composition reflects, proportionately, the views of the electorate,
the majoritarian or consensus candidates (as applicable) will sweep
the board.
I have a concern about this:
If, for example, there were an issue that sharply divides the SPI
membership say 66% to 33%, an STV election would elect 6 board members
in favor of A and 3 in favor of B, whereas a Condorcet election might
elect 9 in favor of A. The problem with the STV board would be that
they would constantly disagree with each other instead of getting work done.
It is likely that the 66% is going to rule the board anyway. In fact, we
saw that happen over the last several years. The advantage is that there
will be *some* of the 66% who will realize the importance of getting
certain things done (like Zobel helping the Treasurer finally get into
an accounting system). Further you are going to have some lap over from
the 33%. You will get people saying, "Hey, that actually makes sense."
from the 66% that was influenced by the 33%.
An analogy in "real" politics is: A parliament should generally reflect
the population's wishes proportionally, but the executive is generally
drawn only from one or a few aligned parties.
Correct, our parliament is our board. Our officers are our executive branch.
Maybe this isn't a problem in practice, or maybe you/some actually want
to the board to work that way, but I think we should consider what the
nature of the board is or should be, and which election method best
realizes that.
Progress is made through a compromise that everyone hates and loves at
the same time.
Sincerely,
JD
--
Command Prompt, Inc. http://the.postgres.company/
+1-503-667-4564
PostgreSQL Centered full stack support, consulting and development.
Everyone appreciates your honesty, until you are honest with them.
Unless otherwise stated, opinions are my own.
_______________________________________________
Spi-general mailing list
Spi-general@lists.spi-inc.org
http://lists.spi-inc.org/listinfo/spi-general
