I might start an action of my own. I have almost finished both my single and multiple-members district proposals. I will start a group by myself: the Electoral_systems_designers group.
When I do so, I would put in place a contest (an election) to select the best single and multiple member district method. The goal IS NOT to select a unique proposal but to help people following their own proposal support. It would be an inference motor: the result of the single-member district contest would be used for the two next elections. I think to set the frequency of the contests this way: I start with the first 3 people I have (with FTP, a method disliked by almost all) and produce a new contest each time my group at least doubles in size. For example: 01/10/2002 --> 3 voters with FTP : result IRV 05/12/2002 --> 5 voters with IRV : result STV with Droop quota and all details... 26/02/2003 --> 8 voters with IRV : result Ranked Pairs 17/03/2003 --> 10 voters with Ranked Pairs: result MMP open list with details... 16/06/2003 --> 16 voters with Ranked Pairs: result IRV 28/10/2003 --> 20 voters with IRV : STV Hare-Davison with details.... and so on.... I still have to solve some issues: I would like some secrecy about who voted what. I would like to show the ballots to everyone, but not wanting to know whom is any particular one... Maybe using a trustable person as a relay could hide some information. We could duplicate the ballot breakdown with two different scrutators to ensure good and not manipulated results. All I ask is a unique reference (a website maintained by one or several defendors or a definition text available on demand) with a process reproductible by anybody. It would not have to be all mathematical, but to be all defined. I DO NOT want philosophical issues and comparisons discussions, I leave this to the election-methods-list. Participants could propose as many variant they want. It should meet some educational and advertising purpose for all election methods and be fun! Who would like to participate in my contest ? St�phane Rouillon.
