Archive:Ombudsman/Archive 1/Election process

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Voting Methods

The Management Council has asked me, as Ombudsman, to investigate voting methods, and in particular to ask the community what are their preferences in terms of the voting method we should use for future elections. The guidance they gave me is as follows:

1. Develop an analysis of the pros and cons of each method discovered in this search. Pros and cons should include not only the technical merits of the method, but also the effect using the method has on the transparency of the determining the results; the difficulty in training non-technical people to use the method and training non-technical people serving on election committees to execute the method's algorithms; and whether the objectives of the method (e.g., eliminating bias against minority blocks of voters) are realistic objectives for the size and composition of the community.
2. Attempt to ascertain how strongly citizens feel about the voting method they support. Would choosing a particular voting method motivate a significant number of citizens to leave the project?
3. After conducting the analysis, provide the Management Council with a recommendation of the voting method we should use with the understanding that the Management Council has the final say in selection.

All members of Citizendium are invited to participate in this process, and may do so by posting comments on the Talk page associated with this page. This page I will reserve to capture substantive points and decisions.

Referendum result

In December 2011, the following proposal was approved by a referendum :

1. Voting: Citizens are asked to list -- in order of preference -- all candidates whom they approve (and only those).

This list may contain all candidates or may be empty, too.

2. Approval threshold: In a first step all candidates are removed from the ballot who have not gained minimum support (25 percent).

The threshold is to be calculated from the number of ballots cast.

3. Election result: The remaining candidates are ordered according to the number of votes gained. If seats remain vacant they shall be filled in a special election (three months later). Remaining candidates may serve as reserve members.

This proposal to change the voting system for future elections must be viewed in the context of the Charter, Article 30 of which states: The nature of the ballot shall be determined by the Management Council, provided that any method adopted must be accessible and usable by every Citizen.

Thus by the Charter, the nature of the ballot is the responsibility of the Management Council to determine, and the referendum of 2012 does not change that. It therefore falls on the Management Council to consider the results in the context of the Charter, including in the light of their duty to ensure fair and transparent governance of the project.

Article 25 also states (in Section 3) that "The candidates collecting the most votes shall be elected." It seems clear to me that this is consistent with the referendum as passed, but I am willing to hear any argument that it is not.