current A.6 draft

[Raul Miller <moth@debian.org>]

[This is my second attempt at sending this message.]


Here's a vote counting proposal which corresponds to the
examples listed in
http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2002/debian-vote-200211/msg00321.html

______________________________________________________________________


   A.6 Vote Counting

     1. Each voter's ballot ranks the options being voted on.  Not all
	options need be ranked.  Ranked options are considered preferred
	to all unranked options.  Unranked options are not considered
	preferred to other unranked options.  The details of how ballots
	may be filled out will be included in the Call For Votes.

     2. If fewer ballots are received than the required quorum for the
        vote, the default option is declared the winner.

     3. We construct the Schwartz set based on undropped options and
     defeats:

          a. An option A is in the Schwartz set if for all options B,
             either A transitively defeats B, or B does not transitively
             defeat A.

          b. An option, A, transitively defeats an option, C, if A
             defeats C or if there is some other option, B, where A
             defeats B AND B transitively defeats C.

	  c. An option, A, defeats an option, B, if N(A,B)*V(A,B) is
	     larger than N(A,B)*V(B,A), and the (A,B) defeat has not
	     been dropped.

	  d. Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters
	     who prefer option A over option B.

          e. If a majority of n:1 is required for A, and B is the default
             option, N(B,A) is n.  In all other cases, N(B,A) is 1.

     4. If there are defeats within the Schwartz set, we drop the weakest
	such defeats, and return to step 4.

	  a. A defeat is in the Schwartz set if both of its options are
	     in the Schwartz set.

          b. A defeat (A,X) is weaker than a defeat (B,Y) if A is not
             the default option and V(A,X) is less than V(B,Y).  Also,
             (A,X) is weaker than (B,Y) A is not the default option and if
             V(A,X) is equal to V(B,Y) and V(X,A) is greater than V(Y,B).

          c. A weakest defeat is a defeat that has no other defeat weaker
             than it. There may be more than one such defeat.

     5. If there are no defeats within the Schwartz set, then the winner
	is chosen from the options in the Schwartz set. If there is
	only one such option, it is the winner. If there are multiple
	options, the elector with a casting vote may choose which of
	those option wins.

     "RATIONALE": Voters should rank the options they prefer in the
     order that they prefer them, ranking the default option higher
     than any options they believe are unacceptable. If they believe
     the current situation is superior to any of the proposed changes,
     they should propose or second an amendment that simply preserves
     the status-quo, and only rank options they find unacceptable below
     the default option.

______________________________________________________________________

Note: in other parts of the constitution, the default option is defined
such that if it were to win another election would be held again when
a new ballot has been formed.

-- 
Raul