Re: Proposal -- Change constitution to adopt Smith/Condorcet vote tallying

[Raul Miller <moth@debian.org>]

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On Thu, Dec 14, 2000 at 05:31:52PM -0800, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> Also "no one" is mispelled, as "noone". "Noone" is an archaic spelling
> of "noon", and has nothing to do with "no one".

That's a reasonable point.

I'm withdrawing the proposal I made earlier today.  I'm reissuing it as
two separate proposals: one to fix spelling errors (which will appear
in a separate message), and one to fix the current ambiguities in the
vote tallying process.  Note that I've revised the voting proposal,
so that it's more specific about what to do in dead-even two-way ties.

If someone else wants to make a proposal, please do so.  Also, note that
unless five other developers sponsor this proposal, this proposal is
not going to be anywhere.  If people want me to propose something else
(as opposed to proposing it themselves), please email me privately.

If we don't amend the constitution, with this proposal or someone else's,
then we'll be living with the current ambiguities.  Not amending the
constitution would not stop us from using the constitutional voting
system -- we would defer to the Secretary's interpretation if/when those
ambiguities arise.

I'm using diff -u this time, so it's clearer what's being eliminated,
and what's being added.


--- /usr/share/doc/debian/constitution.txt	Tue Sep 14 18:00:00 1999
+++ /tmp/constitution.txt	Fri Dec 15 00:36:39 2000
@@ -197,9 +197,9 @@
        nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of The
        Above. If None Of The Above wins the election then the election
        procedure is repeated, many times if necessary.
-    7. The decision will be made using Concorde Vote Counting. The quorum
-       is the same as for a General Resolution (s.4.2) and the default
-       option is None Of The Above.
+    7. The decision will be made using Smith/Condorcet Vote Counting. The
+       quorum is the same as for a General Resolution (s.4.2) and
+       the default option is None Of The Above.
     8. The Project Leader serves for one year from their election.
        
   5.3. Procedure
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@
        including themselves; there is no None Of The Above option. The
        vote finishes when all the members have voted or when the outcome
        is no longer in doubt. The result is determined according to
-       Concorde Vote Counting.
+       Smith/Condorcet Vote Counting.
     8. The Chairman can stand in for the Leader, together with the
        Secretary
        As detailed in s.7.1(2), the Chairman of the Technical Committee
@@ -517,9 +517,9 @@
        elsewhere. If the voting period can end if the outcome is no
        longer in doubt, the possibility that voters may change their
        votes is not considered.
-    5. The votes are counted according to the Concorde Vote Counting. If
-       a quorum is required then the default option is Further
-       Discussion.
+    5. The votes are counted according to the Smith/Condorcet Vote
+       Counting. If a quorum is required then the default option is
+       Further Discussion.
     6. In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on matters of
        procedure (for example, whether particular amendments should be
        considered independent or not).
@@ -544,48 +544,52 @@
    otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks then it is considered to have been
    withdrawn.
    
-  A.6. Concorde Vote Counting
+  A.6. Smith/Condorcet Vote Counting
   
     1. This is used to determine the winner amongst a list of options.
        Each ballot paper gives a ranking of the voter's preferred
        options. (The ranking need not be complete.)
-    2. Option A is said to Dominate option B if strictly more ballots
-       prefer A to B than prefer B to A.
-    3. All options which are Dominated by at least one other option are
-       discarded, and references to them in ballot papers will be
-       ignored.
-    4. If there is any option which Dominates all others then that is the
-       winner.
-    5. If there is now more than one option remaining Single
-       Transferrable Vote will be applied to choose amongst those
-       remaining:
-          + The number of first preferences for each option is counted,
-            and if any option has more than half it is the winner.
-          + Otherwise the option with the lowest number of first
-            preferences is eliminated and its votes redistributed
-            according to the second preferences.
-          + This elimination procedure is repeated, moving down ballot
-            papers to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. preferences as required, until
-            one option gets more than half of the `first' preferences.
-    6. In the case of ties the elector with a casting vote will decide.
-       The casting vote does not count as a normal vote; however that
-       elector will usually also get a normal vote.
-    7. If a supermajority is required the number of Yes votes in the
-       final ballot is reduced by an appropriate factor. Strictly
-       speaking, for a supermajority of F:A, the number of ballots which
-       prefer Yes to X (when considering whether Yes Dominates X or X
-       Dominates Yes) or the number of ballots whose first (remaining)
-       preference is Yes (when doing STV comparisons for winner and
-       elimination purposes) is multiplied by a factor A/F before the
-       comparison is done. This means that a 2:1 vote, for example, means
-       twice as many people voted for as against; abstentions are not
-       counted. 
-    8. If a quorum is required, there must be at least that many votes
-       which prefer the winning option to the default option. If there
-       are not then the default option wins after all. For votes
-       requiring a supermajority, the actual number of Yes votes is used
-       when checking whether the quorum has been reached.
-       
+    2. A square "initial totals table" is constructed, recording the
+       ballot totals: the number in the table at row j, column k indicates
+       the number of ballots which prefer ballot option j to ballot
+       option k.
+    3. A square "adjusted totals table" is constructed such that all
+       entries in row j from the initial totals table have been multiplied
+       by m and divided by n where option j has an n:m majority
+       requirement.  For options with no such majority requirement,
+       the row in the adjusted totals table is the same as the row from
+       the initial totals table.
+    4. A four column "winning criteria table" is constructed with one row
+       for each cell in the adjusted totals table: the "for" column
+       holds option j; the "against" column holds option k; the "votes
+       in favor" column holds the value from the adjusted totals table
+       for row j, column k; the "votes against" column holds the value
+       from the adjusted totals table for row k, column j.
+    5. The winning criteria table is sorted in descending order based on
+       the "votes in favor" column (and, where values in the "votes in
+       favor" column are equal, in ascending order based on the "votes
+       against" column).
+    6. If there is a single option in "for" column of the winning criteria
+       table which does not appear in "against" column, that option is
+       the chosen option.
+    7. If there are multiple options in the "for" column of the chosen
+       criteria table which do not appear in "against" column, the person
+       with a casting vote picks the chosen option from the options
+       which are mentioned in the "for" column, but not in the "against"
+       column.
+    8. Until there is a chosen option, the last row of the winning
+       criteria table is examined and (permanently) removed from the
+       winning criteria table.  At the same time, any adjacent row(s) are
+       removed, if they are identical to what the removed row has in the
+       "votes in favor" and "votes against" columns.  Exception: if all
+       rows of the winning criteria would be eliminated, the person with
+       a casting vote picks the chosen option from those which remained
+       in the "for" column.
+    9. Once the chosen option is picked, the ballots are re-checked:
+       if the number of ballots which mention the chosen option is less
+       than a quorum for the vote, the default option wins.  Otherwise,
+       the chosen option wins.
+
    When the Standard Resolution Procedure is to be used, the text which
    refers to it must specify what is sufficient to have a draft
    resolution proposed and/or sponsored, what the minimum discussion




Thanks,

-- 
Raul