Voting Systems and Simplicity


Photo of a wooden sign indicating there's polling station here.

it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time… Winston Churchill I read this wonderful post from ThreeBallot voting. I've read it through twice, and I only think I understand how it works. For all its flaws, First Past The Post is really easy to describe. You can explain how it works in a sentence. "The person with the largest number of votes for them is the winner." I reckon you can do it in two w…

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How To Vote


A complex chart of votes.

I recently had an interesting voting experience which I'd like to share with you. Perhaps you can give me some advice? I'm a member of a board and we recently held an election for new board members. We had 8 spaces and 19 candidates. Candidates wrote a short application and we each ranked them in preference order. My most favoured candidate was ranked 1, the worst candidate was ranked 19. With multi-member elections, there are seemingly endless ways to tally votes. So we tallied them…

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Things I think I'm wrong about - part 1 - Online Voting


A pet cat typing on a computer keyboard.

I'm right about everything. My opinions are wholly rational and a product of logical analysis. Your opinions are scattered thoughts and half-remembered fairy-tales. That's how most of us think, right? The only way we can get through the day is by thinking we're correct. I want to examine some of the things I think I'm right about - but secretly worry I'm wrong about. Let's start with a gentle one - online voting. I truly and fundamentally know that online voting is a terrible idea. Every…

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An Open Letter To The Labour Party


Logo of the Labour party.

Hello! I'm what you would probably describe as a natural Labour voter. I'm middle class, the son of teachers, University educated, member and representative of the NUS, I'm employed by a big British company, I'm a proud union member and a home owner.  I even spoke at the TUC before Gordon Brown took the stage. I probably won't be voting Labour in the next General Election. I say probably, because you still have a chance to win me back. Allow me to explain. I was a few months short of being …

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E-Voting


Logo for Get A Vote.

Yet more mumblings of e-voting at El Reg. Does anyone seriously think that e-voting is a good idea?  Ignoring the fact that PRIVATE companies have complete control over the PUBLIC election process and ignoring the usability nightmare and ignoring what happens when there's a power cut, you still have the fact that it wont solve the fundamental problems of voting. 1) Low voter turn out.  I think this could be solved with an improved voting process rather than first passed the post and more a…

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