There are a number of improvements that can be applied to
several of the more popular electoral systems.
If you recommend MMP, please include Alternative Vote for the
district elections. FPTP is no better under MMP than it is on its
own.
If you recommend MMP with a 5% threshold for the party ballot
please use a preferential ballot so that votes for the less popular
parties are not wasted. Votes for the parties that fail to make 5%
should be transferred to the next choice on the ballot.
If you recommend STV or Nick Loenen's Preferential Plus (
LOENEN-0035),
please use the Hare Quota rather than the Droop Quota in the STV
districts. The larger quota gives a more proportional result.
The use of a Preferential Ballot is required for Alternative Vote
and Single Transferable Vote. A Preferential Ballot can also be
used to improve MMP and Proportional Representation.
Preferential Ballots should have a series of columns where a mark
or marks can be placed in each column to indicate the first,
second, third, etc. choices. This will probably work better than
writing numbers on a ballot. By using marks in separate columns you
retain the process we are familiar with now and the ballot is
machine readable.
If we are going to move from scanning of a hand marked ballot to
touch screen or some other form of electronic voting,
then the voting machine/computer must produce a paper ballot that
the voter can check, and that forms the real and physical record of
votes cast. This printed ballot can then be scanned or counted by
hand in a re-count. The initial count can be from the machine that
prints the ballot or it can be from a scan of the printed
ballot.
These are all refinements that can be made part of your
recommendation without affecting the popularity of your
recommendation because they are subtle refinements that are will
not be dealt with when time comes for the public vote.
If you wish to consider any of these details further please contact
me and I will provide more complete information and
explanations.
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