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THE ELECTION METHOD OF THE PACIFICA FOUNDATION
According to the bylaws, this election will use the CHOICE
VOTING form of proportional representation (also call “Single
Transferable Vote” or simply “STV”).
Proportional representation refers to voting systems in which
groups of voters win representation in proportion to their
numbers. For example, 10% of the voters will elect approximately
10% of the seats, 20% of voters will elect 20% of the seats
and so forth. The majority wins a majority but not all of
the seats, while minority viewpoints also win their fair share
of the seats.
The CHOICE VOTING form of proportional representation is
a system in which voters rank candidates in order of choice.
The method of tallying votes is designed to facilitate each
voter having someone elected to the board that is acceptable
to him/her.
CHOICE VOTING tends to prevent monolithic “slates”
of candidates from monopolizing a board. In this way, CHOICE
VOTING promotes diversity and democracy. This is different
from winner-take-all elections where the majority has the
potential to elect every single seat on the board, leaving
minority viewpoints un-represented.
HOW IT WORKS
If there are 25 candidates for nine positions, then every
ballot will ask members to RANK the 25 candidates in order
of preference, from 1 to 25.
Since there are nine spaces to be filled, it will take a
little more than 10% of the vote for a candidate to reach
the proportional threshold necessary to win election. This
is because if nine candidates each got 10.01% of the vote,
this would add up to 90.09% of the vote. It would then be
impossible for a tenth candidate to have more votes than those
top nine, since there is only 9.91% of the vote remaining.
In the first round of voting, the first place candidate on
each ballot receives one vote. Any candidate that has achieved
the threshold percentage is declared a winner.
At this point second place votes begin to count. First, candidates
that had more votes than they needed (say, 13%), have portions
of their vote redistributed to the second choice candidates
of the individuals who placed them first on their ballots.
Second, low vote-getting candidates, who are below the point
where it would be possible for them to achieve the threshold,
also have their votes distributed to the individuals who were
ranked second on their ballots.
Through a series of rounds of redistributing votes this way,
eventually a full Board of nine individuals achieves the threshold,
and are declared elected.
Important advice for voters:
- There is no reason to vote strategically. Because your
first choice vote counts entirely for your preference as
long as s/he needs the vote to be elected, it never hurts
your candidate to rank others below her/him.
- Rank as many candidates as you have opinions about. Because
your ballot continues to shape the results for as long as
it takes to fill a complete Board, it is always a good idea
to rank many candidates. Ranking additional candidates ensures
that your vote will be maximized, and no part of your vote
will be wasted.
- The best strategy for a voter is to rank every candidate
in order or as many candidates as you have an opinion about.
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