Democratic voting rules intro

Voting Tasks and
Voting Systems

 Site Map
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This site shows the best voting systems for elections and meetings.
The resulting councils are inclusive, well centered, and decisive.
Free software makes voting and tallies easy!
 
These pages explain improvements for democracy in any size from schoolroom to nation, and at all steps from nominating candidates to allocating funds.  The concepts build from one voting task to the next.
 
Pie SharesOverview Democracy's rules affect the quality of life.
dotSingle-Winner Election   Pairwise rule elects a widely-popular and central chairperson.
ringMulti-Winner Election Full Representation fills a diverse and balanced council.
targetMixed-Member Council  The chair and reps make a centrally-balanced council.New
Pairwise CenteringPolicy Decision
 Pairwise with rules of order leads to central policies.New
Project DistributionProject Selection
 Fair-share spending selects and funds diverse projects.New
BudgetsBudget Setting Fair-share points quickly adjust all agency budgets.New
Fair SharesReview & Continue
 Continue with books, links, software and more.

 

Gray labels mark pages under development.
 

 Overview of Elections 

 Democracy's tragedies and advances; Eras, voting rules and typical councils.

Primer on Principles for: IRV, Full Rep PR, Condorcet, and Fair-share budgets.  Math ed.

Workshop Move your visible votes for: Instant Runoff Voting, STV and Budget rules.

    Teacher's Guides to participatory tallies; Tally logic, and Software.

Hidden Philosophies in voting systems: Why take a vote, Two views on elections.

Quotes Game Distinguish between democratic and authoritarian ideas. 

Democratic Goals for elections and legislation, Steering analogy, Three propositions.

Quotes A few unusual quotes about democracy, Democratic personality types?

Against Democracy Arguments against direct democracy and representation.

Ads. vs. Info. Campaign funding, Negative campaigns.
 

 Single-Winner Elections 

 Plurality failures, the pairwise Condorcet voting system.

Preference Ballots  give a voter the power to rank candidates: 1st choice, 2nd, 3rd ...

Voter Graphics show how Condorcet's voting system elects central winners.

Tally Table for Condorcet's method.

Instant Runoff Voting How to tally an instant runoff. Compare 4 one-winner systems.

Other Rules Plurality rules, Majority rules, Condorcet completion rules and others.

    Comparisons of several voting systems for electing one winner.

    Strategies Decapitation, Free rides, Punishing votes and Raising turkeys,
                    Exaggeration, Divide and conquer, Gerrymander.

District Maps Gerrymanders, Condorcet districts, Objections to competitive districts.

Quotes The Marquis de Condorcet, Condorcet's criterion.

Criticisms of Condorcet based on behaviors of voters, politicians and governments.
 

 Multi-Winner Elections 

 Plurality failures, Proportional Representation, Fair shares, Electing women.

Merits Benefits of PR: Geography, Campaign funding, Negative ads.

Electing Women Data show PR increases voter turnout and women in office.

Quotes Proportional Representation has won wide and deep support.

Single Transferable Vote its logic and effects.

    Picture Tally 1 steps through a tally protecting a minority's right to representation.

    Picture Game 2 STV also protects the majority group's right to a council majority.

    2D Charts show the steps in an STV election from PoliticalSim TM.

PR Ballots used for IRV / STV, List PR and MMP elections.

Anti PR Arguments against proportional representation.

Options for PR voting systems: Lists, Thresholds, Quotas, Divisors, Transfers.
 

 Council Elections 

 Off-center majorities, Central swing-vote moderator.

Merits of balanced majorities, Avoiding policy reversals, Calming political hysteria.

More Merits of ensemble councils: What is the center, FAQ's.

Condorcet + STV is best for making the Condorcet winner a council's swing voter.

Notes & Quotes Evolving toward stability, Sabbatical terms, Nominating directors.

Seats Choosing an electoral voting system to fit a council's number of seats.

Shares A brief history of quotas, the votes needed for victory.
 

 Enacting Policy 

 Agenda failures, Policy making, Ballots, Central policies, Initiatives.

Basic Motions Rules of order for ranked-choice voting to enact policies.

Agenda Scams Late introduction, One against all, Poison-pill amendments, Free riders.

Preference Ballots offer more choices, more control and faster decisions.

Voting Cycles Condorcet voting paradox.

Loring One-winner Rule is a Condorcet-completion rule for setting policy.

Other Rules and links to sites with voting systems for policy decisions.

Amendments sequential voting procedures used in several European democracies.

Vote Trading can change policies to satisfy more people.

Notes on conducting policy votes.
 

 Selecting Projects 

 Participatory budgeting, Fair-share spending.

Uses of FS rules Subscribers, Clubs, Market research, Investment funds, Grant givers.

Need The haphazard method of spending discretionary funds in the U.S. Congress.

Notes What is a public good? Fair shares limit each group's power, Strategic voting.

MMV Ballot Criteria, voter's share, quota, buying votes, Lower choices.

Voting Options Two of a kind, Protect top choices, Sets of winners, Strategies.

MMV Tally Definitions, Equity, Utility,  Sim Game Download free software.

MMVa Ballot Advanced-math ballot, paying for votes, Charts of offers, Try a ballot.

MMVa Tally math: Definitions, Equity, Utility, Ballot examples, Calculations.  Excel tally.

Tally Options to optimize project selection: Suspended votes, Ties, Contributions.

   Other FS Rules.   LAR Pairwise then Movable Votes.   Limited Vote.   Median Votes.
 

 Adjusting Budgets 

 Budget Points let all voters affect ongoing department budgets.

Budget Follies The election-year budget process in the U.S. Congress.

Budget Refill Voting, Automated, Over time, Negative cards.

Other Rules Hammer's, Turns, Medians, Points, Economic, MMV.

Notes Paying taxes, Market failures, Ballots.

Median Voter Process finds a starting point for adjusting budgets.                      

Table & Cards shows equipment for adjusting budgets.

Hylland-Zeckhauser The H-Z trick, Square-root voting, Criticisms of H-Z.

Influence Points Calculations for influence points,  Ballot and tally software.

Coalitions affect on influence points.
 

 End Matter 

        Review goals for voting systems in meetings and elections.

Software to tally most voting systems for elections and meetings.

Simulation software for games, lectures, and research.  PoliticalSim ™

Printouts about accurate democracy, including the Workshop and Primer.

Income for accurate democracy experts.

To Do Research, writing and programming needed for democracy.

Reforms for the USA: IRV for chief execs, STV3 districts for reps, Rules of order.

Future Rules sketches possibilities for new voting systems.

Bibliography lists links, books and other resources for accurate democracy.

Voting Glossary on social choice and voting systems.

Thanks to those who made this work possible; A philosophy; What led to this work.

Contacts Please write about your experience in Accurate Democracy.
 

 

This is the only site with tools for creating: centrally-balanced councils, central policies and fair-share funding for projects and agencies.

Each section looks at one use for voting such as electing reps or setting budgets.  The main page introduces the type of decision and some merits of the best voting system.  Secondary pages explain the system's logic through words, numbers and pictures.

 

Please read the main pages before delving into the mechanics of a particular voting system.  A typical consumer does not read the mechanic's manual for a refrigerator before using it and accurate voting systems are about that complicated.  Although some tallies are difficult, the voter's task of marking the ballot remains easy.

The Download directory has many documents and programs.

The introduction in Print is handy to read closely and refer to later.

 

Site IntroductionPoliticalSim

 

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