[This is my second attempt at sending this message.]
Here's a vote counting proposal which corresponds to the examples listed in http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2002/debian-vote-200211/msg00321.html ______________________________________________________________________ A.6 Vote Counting 1. Each voter's ballot ranks the options being voted on. Not all options need be ranked. Ranked options are considered preferred to all unranked options. Unranked options are not considered preferred to other unranked options. The details of how ballots may be filled out will be included in the Call For Votes. 2. If fewer ballots are received than the required quorum for the vote, the default option is declared the winner. 3. We construct the Schwartz set based on undropped options and defeats: a. An option A is in the Schwartz set if for all options B, either A transitively defeats B, or B does not transitively defeat A. b. An option, A, transitively defeats an option, C, if A defeats C or if there is some other option, B, where A defeats B AND B transitively defeats C. c. An option, A, defeats an option, B, if N(A,B)*V(A,B) is larger than N(A,B)*V(B,A), and the (A,B) defeat has not been dropped. d. Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters who prefer option A over option B. e. If a majority of n:1 is required for A, and B is the default option, N(B,A) is n. In all other cases, N(B,A) is 1. 4. If there are defeats within the Schwartz set, we drop the weakest such defeats, and return to step 4. a. A defeat is in the Schwartz set if both of its options are in the Schwartz set. b. A defeat (A,X) is weaker than a defeat (B,Y) if A is not the default option and V(A,X) is less than V(B,Y). Also, (A,X) is weaker than (B,Y) A is not the default option and if V(A,X) is equal to V(B,Y) and V(X,A) is greater than V(Y,B). c. A weakest defeat is a defeat that has no other defeat weaker than it. There may be more than one such defeat. 5. If there are no defeats within the Schwartz set, then the winner is chosen from the options in the Schwartz set. If there is only one such option, it is the winner. If there are multiple options, the elector with a casting vote may choose which of those option wins. "RATIONALE": Voters should rank the options they prefer in the order that they prefer them, ranking the default option higher than any options they believe are unacceptable. If they believe the current situation is superior to any of the proposed changes, they should propose or second an amendment that simply preserves the status-quo, and only rank options they find unacceptable below the default option. ______________________________________________________________________ Note: in other parts of the constitution, the default option is defined such that if it were to win another election would be held again when a new ballot has been formed. -- Raul
