In an earlier submission, I had incorrectly stated that full STV
has never been used for open party lists. I was relying on outdated
information.
In the 1989 and 1992 Australian Capital Territory Legislative
Assembly Elections the Modified d'Hondt Electoral System was used.
This electoral system used party list proportional representation
using the d'Hondt Greatest Averages Method and a Threshold of 5.56
percent. Candidates for the open lists were selected using the
Hare-Clark method of STV. Details on this method may be found at
the following website:
http://www.elections.act.gov.au/Dhondt.html
If the Citizens' Assembly decides to use a party list system for
compensatory second tier seats (e.g., MMP or MMM - Ensemble), the
"Modified d'Hondt Electoral System" is a proven list PR system that
maximizes voter choice.
Since 1992, the Australia Captial Territory has used the Hare-Clark
method of STV in DM=5 and DM=7 ridings. See the follwing website
for details:
http://www.eca.gov.au/systems/australia/by_area/act.htm
Also, the Australian Capital Territory started a pilot project
in electronic voting in 2001.
The electronic voting system is known as "eVACS" and has the
following characteristics:
-audio for vision impaired voters
-multiple languages
-multiple alphabets
-operates on standard hardware (i.e., off the shelf personal
computers, bar code readers, and headphones)
-compatible with any election system (including STV, AV, FPP,
MMP)
-software is under a general public license
-software is open-source
-runs on Linux OS
Details on eVACS may be found on the following websites:
http://www.softimp.com.au/evacs.html
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,61045,00.html
Unfortunately, eVACS currently lacks a voter-verified paper trail.
However, this could be added.
Development of the software was headed by Matt Quinn of Software
Improvements.
Phillip Green is the ACT Electoral Commissioner and has been
heavily involved with eVACS as well as with the Modified d'Hondt
Electoral System.
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