[conlang_learners] Voting mechanisms

[Jim Henry]

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 4:47 PM, Arthaey Angosii<arthaey at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 1:02 PM, Jim Henry<jimhenry1973 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Another method I'd like to suggest is instant-runoff voting (
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting );

> Does IRV allow voters to rank several options as the same rank? For
> example, say the conlangs Foo, Bar, and Qux are being voted on. Foo is
> my top choice, and after that I don't care if Bar or Qux wins. So I'd
> want to vote like this:
>
> 1. Foo
> 2. Bar, Qux

I don't think IRV as such allows that, but I'm fairly sure
there are similar voting systems that do.  I'll have to do
some research.

As for using software to count votes, or to register the
votes via a web form: I wonder if we can adapt, or
use with no modification, the software the Worldcon
Hugo Award committees use to tally votes?  The
Hugo Awards use IRV, if I understand correctly.
We may need to modify the software to allow for
an open-ended number of ranked votes per ballot,
since the Hugo Awards have no more than six
nominations per category.

-- 
Jim Henry
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/