<HTML><HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> One of the newest voting methods is called </FONT><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Majority Choice Approval</FONT></b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> .</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> I find it quite interesting.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> In it, voters rank each candidate as ‘favored’, ‘accepted’, or ‘disapproved’. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> If a candidate is marked ‘favored’ by more than 50% of the voters, then the </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> candidate with the most 'favored' votes wins. Otherwise, the winner is the one</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> with the highest overall approval (that is, the sum of ‘favored’ and ‘accepted’ votes). </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Ties can be broken based on the number of ‘favored’ marks.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> The voter can place as many candidates as they want in each category.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> That is, a voter who finds two candidates equally suited to the job can</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> indicate that on their ballot by marking both as 'favored'. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Similarly, they are allowed to mark several as acceptable, or disapproved.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> This method has several advantages over Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> It is simpler for the voter, since they do not have to rank order a list of candidates, </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> and it always chooses a winner who is acceptable to the most people. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)</FONT></b></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) is an interesting possibility that has </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> been around for over 100 years. In it, the voter is asked to rank</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> all candidates from most preferred to least.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> When no candidate gets a majority of 1st rank votes, IRV enters a recount mode. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> It is much like holding a series of runoff elections in which the lowest polling candidate </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> is eliminated in each round until someone receives a majority vote. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> IRV has some problems. Mainly it asks a lot of the voter, in that the voter must </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> rank a list of candidates. In our last election, we potentially had 5 candidates.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> I shutter at the complexity of asking voters to rank 5 people from most </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> preferred to least preferred and mark them on a paper ballot, which is, of </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> course, in a different order than what they would rank. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Such a system might get a lot of ballot spoilage and there could be a great</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> advantage to have your name listed first.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> IRV is also subject to strategic voting such as "rank manipulation", </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> where voters intentionally rank weak candidates highly, in hopes that </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> their favored candidate will face a weaker candidate in an instant runoff.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Perhaps the worst effect of IRV can be to eliminate a candidate that the </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> majority of people fine acceptable but relatively few list as their first choice. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Below is a link that discusses the strengths and weaknesses of IRV.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> There are variations of IRV that try to reduce the complexity and problems.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> One simple variation of IRV is called </FONT><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Supplementary Vote. </FONT></b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> It has the voter rank </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> only a 1st and 2nd choice. It is simpler and is fairly practical, but suffers some of </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> the other flaws of IRV.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> For further reading you might try these links...</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Majority Choice Approval </FONT></b></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> (voters mark each candidate as favored, accepted or disapproved)</FONT></div>
<div> <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_Choice_Approval"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_Choice_Approval</FONT></A></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Supplementary Vote </FONT></b></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> (voters mark a 1st and 2nd choice): </FONT></div>
<div> <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplementary_vote"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplementary_vote</FONT></A></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> IRV </FONT></b></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> (voters mark each candidate with a rank, and elimination rounds choose the winner): </FONT></div>
<div> <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting</FONT></A></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Borda counts </FONT></b></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> (voters mark each candidate with a rank, and the sum of the ranks chooses the winner): </FONT></div>
<div> <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borda_count"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borda_count</FONT></A></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> - Rob</FONT></div>
<div> </div>
<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT><div> </div>
</body></html>