Based on feedback posted in this forum, and feedback from other sources,
Jameson Quinn and I have refined the wording of the Declaration's
paragraph that previously implied that each of us would fully support
each other's preferred election method. Here is the refined wording,
which basically avoids this issue:
"Why do we not support a single "best" election method? Different
experts place different degrees of importance on the relative advantages
and disadvantages of each method, and we expect different methods will
be adopted in different circumstances. To express these significant
differences, some of us state our personal preferences in the list of
signatures. Moving beyond these differences we have reached a consensus.
Every person signing this declaration supports our call to end the use
of plurality voting in governmental elections."
For comparison, here is the previous version:
"Why do we not support a single "best" election method? Different
election-method experts place different degrees of importance on the
relative advantages and disadvantages of each method. For this reason,
in the list of signatures some of us indicate which voting method we
most strongly prefer. It bears repeating though, that despite our
disagreements, we would not hesitate to support any of these methods
over plurality voting. In signing this statement, we are uniting against
plurality, not “splitting the vote” by each supporting only our favorite
method."
If you have already signed the declaration and do not like the new
wording, please say so. If necessary we can remove your signature, but
hopefully we can resolve any objection (which is likely to be an issue
for others as well). If you like the new wording and have already
signed, no reply is needed.
If this wording refinement is now enticing you to sign this declaration,
please supply your signature in the previously shown format. (A
semicolon separates the signature into: name; contact info
(non-software-collectible); credentials; election-method preference)
Richard Fobes
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