OK, time to kick off this demonstration of Cambridge-style voting. We're choosing nine candidates for the nonexistent but totally rad High and Mighty Daily Kos Ruling Council. (See this post for full background.) These users have announced their candidacies:
AnotherMassachusettsLiberal
Antitheist
CaliSista
Clio2
Meteor Blades
Mokurai
nuclear winter solstice
pierre9045
polar wholphin
prwsag52
qazplm
Sir Vantes
snarkylgbtdem
terrypinder
In addition, Words in Action nominated three other candidates:
David Harris Gershon
JayRaye
LieparDestin
These candidates didn't nominate themselves, but I'm going to declare them eligible anyway, in the interest of offering more choices. Plus, I'd like to illustrate the influence that slates can have -- after all, the ultimate idea behind this experiment is that at-large representation with balloting by single transferable vote might be a better way to choose representatives to Congress than geographically based districts, with their vulnerability to gerrymandering and other manipulation.
So in addition, I'm going to add the following candidates to the mix:
The Black Kos slate:
a2nite
Chitown Kev
Denise Oliver Velez
Frank Vyan Walton
GenXangster
JoanMar
Shaun King
Yasuragi
I'll add Mokurai, who's already announced, to this slate as well.
The Front Page All-Star slate:
Egberto Willies
Greg Dworkin
Jed Lewison
Joan McCarter
kos
Laura Clawson
Laurence Lewis
Hunter
Meteor Blades, who's already announced, would also be a member of this slate.
The So Damn Ready for Hillary I'll Fight You slate:
anastasia p
Armando
atana
Christin
Inland
raptavio
TobyRocksSoHard
Trix
Tuffie
This should provide a reasonable simulation of a race with three viable parties or factions, plus a gaggle of independent candidates.
Voting instructions below the rockabilly quiff.
INSTRUCTIONS
Send me a KosMail message listing the candidates you're voting for in rank-ordered preference, like this:
1 - [name]
2 - [name]
3 - [name]
4 - [name]
5 - [name]
.
.
.
and so on until you've included everyone you want to vote for. Your most preferred candidate should be your No. 1.
Q: How many candidates may I vote for?
A: As many or as few as you like. You may vote for only one candidate if you support only one candidate. However, if that candidate is eliminated, your ballot will be eliminated as well, since it can't be assigned to anyone else. You do not have to rank every candidate.
Q: So I don't have to rank a candidate whom I don't support at all?
A: No. In fact, you should leave that candidate off your ballot entirely, so that there's no chance that your vote will be reassigned to him or her.
Q: What should I base my rankings on?
A: Who you think would be the best candidate for the High and Mighty Daily Kos Ruling Council. You need not consider any other criterion. You can define "the best candidate" by whatever measure suits you.
Q: If I'm voting for someone who's running as part of a slate, do I have to vote for everyone on the slate?
A: Nope. The idea of a slate is that a party or faction has gotten a group of candidates together and announced they're running on the same platform. In practice, they want you to vote for the whole slate, but you're under no such obligation. You can also order them any way you like. Maybe you support two members of a slate, but not the rest. Rank them alongside with the other candidates you support, according to your order of preference, and leave the others off.
Q: What if I don't want to vote for any of the slated candidates at all?
A: You don't have to. You can cast a ballot containing only the names of independent candidates.
Q: May I write a candidate in?
A: Write-ins do not fare well in STV voting. In almost every instance, they're the very first ones eliminated. Unless your write-in candidate amassed enough votes to outpoll one or more approved candidates, your ballot would be immediately reassigned to your next choice.
Q: What if I can't decide between two candidates? May I assign them a tie ranking?
A: No. You have to place one above the other. In practice, giving two candidates the same ranking would void your ballot.
Q: May I campaign for myself or for candidates I support in the comments below?
A: Yes. Please do.
Q: How long will you be accepting votes?
A: The same way you tell that the popcorn is done: wait until you hear a long enough gap between pops. Probably a couple of days.
Q: I missed the earlier diaries. May I still register to vote?
A: Yes, but you'll be casting a provisional ballot. ;-)
Just kidding. The point of "registering" voters was to get people paying attention to the experiment. If you've just discovered it now and would like to vote, be my guest. All the votes I receive will be counted.
Q: Remind me again how many candidates can win?
A: Nine -- the average number of seats a state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Q: And how will they be chosen?
A: To qualify for immediate election, a candidate must receive more than 1/10 of all No. 1 votes. If no candidate passes this threshold, the candidate with the fewest No. 1 votes will be eliminated and his or her ballots reassigned to the next candidate(s) in line. This will be repeated until a candidate does pass the threshold. Surplus votes will be distributed proportionally to other candidates. Vote counting will be transparent, so you'll see how it works.
May the best nine win.