Subject: Re: [EL] a "thumping" in the U.K. AV referendum
From: Rob Richie
Date: 5/9/2011, 7:30 AM
To: Josiah Neeley
CC: "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>

In fact, it's quite common for associations in this case to select AV/IRV (they are the same thing). Even as IRV opponents were bashing the system as not British, the House of Lords twice used the system this spring to fill vacancies, and both the Labor Party and Lib Dems use it for electing their leaders (last year Labor Party leader Ed Miliband came back to win in the last round when matched against his brother David last year). The Liberal Party in Canada, will use IRV  a national primary to pick a new leader this year, and literally hundreds of associations use it, including major ones listed here:
http://www.fairvote.org/organizations-and-corporations-using-instant-runoff-voting

When people with an organization are all the same place and have time to keep voting again and again, as you suggest below, that provides an opportunity to negotiate between rounds and for a compromise candidate to emerge. But IRV is seen as the most viable approximation of that when you have people vote once and go home (or vote by mail).

Rob

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 9:34 AM, Josiah Neeley <jneeley@bopplaw.com> wrote:
Tom,

You make an interesting point when you say that "almost never will a body
that has power to write the rules for its own elections, choose FPTP voting
for itself."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that in such cases bodies almost never
choose PR, AV, IRV, or Condorcet either. Instead, the prefered method seems
to be having a series of elections with many candidates which continue until
one candidate reaches a majority. For obvious reasons, *that* system would
not be workable on a large scale, so the question is really about what the
second best system would be.

-Josiah

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