[OT] voting survey

[Nicholas Leippe]

On Friday 21 March 2008, Shane Hathaway wrote:
> Von Fugal wrote:
> > What do you as a voter _want_ out of a voting process and voting
> > infrastructure?
>
> I want to be able to vote for multiple candidates, so that if my first
> choice doesn't win, my vote still increases the odds for my other choices.
>
> Currently, I have to guess whether my first choice has a chance of
> winning; if there's little chance, I have to vote for my second choice
> instead.  That feels broken since my vote does not reflect my actual
> preference.  This happens most often in US presidential elections.
>
> This is probably not the kind of answer you expected, but for me, it's
> the most important thing that we currently lack.  We need either
> approval voting (voters to choose multiple candidates, without ranking)
> or the Condorcet method (voters rank multiple candidates).

I agree with the desire to be able to rank selections.
Furthermore, I would love to see a 'no' option on each candidate so I can 
declare a sort of 'anyone but that guy' response.

I also think there should be a regular (or easier ad-hoc mechanism) for 
sustaining the current position--they need to keep the vote while in office, 
If rating goes down it triggers a reelection, in which they cannot be a 
candidate. Think of it like an employee review at a normal company--if you 
get a performance warning you either improve or you're out at the next one.

>
> > What do you as a voter _expect_ out of a voting process and
> > infrastructure?
>
> I expect privacy, security, simplicity, and an assurance that my vote
> will be included in the tally without modification.

Agreeing, I expect every vote to count. I expect anonymity as well as 
transparency--I want to be able to audit every vote from the poll to the 
final count.
This could be done electronically by issuing an unique id for every single 
vote (not voter). You get a receipt with all of your ids and which way each 
was voted and could look them up at any time to make sure they are recorded 
as you entered them. Of course, this does nothing to prove that the tally is 
correct, but does make sure they at least have an accurate record of what you 
really entered.