Re: GNOME Foundation Elections - Official list of candidates

[David Neary <dneary free fr>]

Hi,

Danilo ?egan wrote:
> I was simply trying to point out that switch of voting system wouldn't
> have any particular effect in the case of Novell-employed candidates,
> other than it would have on all the other members.  I.e. Alan's assertion
> that this was "particularly bad" for them would still hold with
> "preferential voting" system, and it wouldn't be for the voting system
> itself, but due to 4-per-company rule.  It would work better for more
> desireable candidates, but if they don't fit in the quota-of-4,
> they'd be out nevertheless.
> 
> Or am I somehow misunderstanding "Ranked Ballot", and this would
> somehow have particular effect on a case of 6 candidates out of which
> only four can be chosen, compared to anybody else (and this assumed
> relation is not the same as with current voting system, since Alan
> somehow pointed out that they would gain something in particular)?

An example might help illustrate. Let's say there's a quota of 4,
with 5 seats, and 6 candidates, and there are 5 Novell
candidates (OK, it's contrived, but it will illustrate the
problem).

Now with 5 equally weighted votes, if I vote for all the Novell
candidates my vote will effectively be wasted, because whatever
happens 4 Novell people are going to get elected along with the
5th non-Novell person.

In this situation, even if I like all the Novell candidates and
dislike the other person immensely, it is in my interest to not
vote for the Novell person I like least. This is because my 5
votes all have equal weight, so my 5th pick gets the same weight
from me as my favourite.

If, on the other hand, there is a preferential voting system,
then I can safely vote for all Novell candidates in prder of my
preference, thus expressing my vote fully without discriminating
against my favourite candidate. I vote 1,2,3,4,5 for the 5 Novell
candidates, and since the #1s will be counted first for all the
candidates, my vote goes to my favourite candidate and all is
well. If my favourite candidate gets eliminated from
consideration, then my second favourite gets my vote, and so on.

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
David Neary,
E-Mail: dneary free fr
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