Hallo, in May 2008, the Wikimedia Foundation adopted the Schulze method, a Condorcet method, for the elections of its Board of Trustees:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-May/043134.html In June 2008, Wikimedia used the Schulze method for Wikimedia's very first time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2008-05-26/Board_elections http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2008 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2008/Results http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-June/044361.html One vacant seat had to be filled. There were 15 candidates, about 26,000 eligible voters, and 3,019 valid ballots. Ting Chen was a clear Condorcet winner. However, there was a tie for the sixth to the ninth position between the candidates Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, Ryan Postlethwaite, Ray Saintonge, and Steve Smith. Heiskanen beat Postlethwaite with 841 against 770 votes. Heiskanen beat Smith with 798 against 750 votes. Postlethwaite beat Saintonge with 797 against 769 votes. Postlethwaite beat Smith with 755 against 744 votes. Saintonge beat Heiskanen with 745 against 737 votes. Smith beat Saintonge with 778 against 738 votes. The Schulze method resolved this tie as follows: sixth position: Heiskanen seventh position: Postlethwaite eighth position: Smith ninth position: Saintonge. However, most other Condorcet methods would have resolved this tie in the same manner. To the best of my knowledge, these elections to Wikimedia's Board of Trustees were the largest Condorcet poll ever. (When the "Free State Project" used a Condorcet method in 2003 to choose its target state, there were only 5,170 eligible voters and 2,388 valid ballots.) A very good website about the Schulze method with many links is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulze_method A very good paper about the Schulze method with many definitions, examples, and proofs is here: http://m-schulze.webhop.net/schulze1.pdf Markus Schulze ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
