I started writing an essay based in part on our earlier discussions about the meaning of a vote (or lack). Here is a rough abstract:
The individual vote has no effect on the formal outcome of an election; whether the vote is cast or not, the outcome will be the same regardless. The voter *as such* is thereby disengaged from political power. I argue that the sum of these individual disengagements across the population amounts to a power vacuum, which, in Victorian times, led to the effective collapse of the electoral system and the rise of a mass party system. Today, the organized parties exercise the political power that was intended for the individual voters. I trace this failure to a technical design flaw in the electoral system itself. http://zelea.com/project/autonomy/a/fau/fau.xht The text is only in outline. Two sections (meaningless vote and design flaw) will directly concern election methods. I'll post drafts when they are ready. In the meantime, the full argument is elaborated in this thread copied from the Liberationtech list: Freedom in the face of power and a vanishing vote. http://metagovernment.org/pipermail/start_metagovernment.org/2011-September/thread.html#4295 http://metagovernment.org/pipermail/start_metagovernment.org/2011-September/004316.html Wednesday's top story in the New York Times is also relevant: Nicholas Kulish. As scorn for vote grows, protests surge around globe. New York Times. NY edition, September 28, 2011. p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/as-scorn-for-vote-grows-protests-surge-around-globe.html Please offer critique if you see any flaws in my argument. -- Michael Allan Toronto, +1 416-699-9528 http://zelea.com/ ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
