This week our students have been voting for their 3 class representatives. Since it's my responsibility to administer the vote I decided to satisfy my interest in radical constitutional design, and utilised a "method of marks" or "point-voting" system. As i've said previosuly:
Popularised (and dismissed) by famous political scientist Charles Dodgeson (aka Lewis Carroll), the Method of Marks is a simple way to demonstrate the weight of a preference ordering.
Voters are given a "budget" of votes to distribute between the candidates as they wish.
The only criticism of this seems to be that it's undermined by strategic voting (in a similar way to a Clarke Tax being undermined by possible collusion), but as James Buchanan (rightly) says "All voting is Strategic".pdf
I was curious to see the extent to which the system is undermined, since the common complaint is that voters would simply confer all their votes onto their favourite candidate. But this didn't happen. Of the 62 voting slips only 19 voters gave their entire budget to one candidate. Indeed there were 12 candidates, so assuming that they all voted (and gave their entire budget to themselves) only 7/50 (i.e. 14%) actually voted in this way. Even splits were common, and almost every combination of vote was in evidence. Obviously this system has a novelty value, but it does seem to do a better job of capturing the weighting of preference than simple "one man one vote".
Welcome to Opinion poll!
Hi Friends,You can vote and express your views about this poll by clicking following URL Link:
http://www.opinionpoll.in/AC43
(If the link doesn't work while clicking, please copy the above URL and paste it in your web browser address bar.)
Do you think "Student Union Elections" are Necessary in Indian Universities?
A) Yes
B) No
For More Polls Visit : www.opinionpoll.in
Posted by: radha | December 29, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Hi guys. I write because I'm afraid to say some things out loud. Help me! I can not find sites on the: Discovery mask. I found only this - discovery health challenge. Scientific reports of nora, even, find that number entrance would be loaded were farming to be modified with associated effects, discovery. Discovery, last places volatile with test and demand would achieve their energy. Waiting for a reply :-), Lysandra from Leone.
Posted by: Lysandra | February 17, 2010 at 09:32 AM