[maemo-community] Election process referendum

[From: Graham Cobb]

On Sunday 01 February 2009 04:29:02 Tim wrote:
> But, it is very odd (to me) that so much stock is put into something that
> isn't (imho) very important. 
...

I agree with Tim.  I think there are three important issues to be settled for 
the election process: eligibility, nomination, voting.  However, these are in 
decreasing order of importance.

As far as I am concerned, I did not expect even to see a referendum on these 
issues.  I expected to see the council lead some discussion and then make a 
decision -- we don't need a referendum, we have a council!  If we don't like 
the decision they make, we can vote them out using their own process and 
install a council who will change the decision!

To me, the most important issue is eligibility.  That is the one that is 
hardest to fix if it is wrong (because the people who are excluded don't get 
a vote to try to change it next time!).  I have yet to see a proposal (did I 
miss it?) on what the criteria will be for eligibility for the next election.  
That is the issue I care about.  

For anyone who is interested, I tend towards a very wide enfranchisement: 
anyone who is interested in the Maemo community gets a vote.  I realise that 
view is not shared by others and a compromise will be necessary but I would 
like to debate what that is.

> The only thing I might change is how people get nominated... 

Here I disagree with Tim.  I think self-nomination is critical for an 
effective council.  If you think someone should be nominated, lobby him/her 
to stand.

> So, please continue to debate differnt voting practices, ...

I don't particularly care.  I would prefer STV because people are familiar 
with it from real-world elections and it is reasonably easy to understand, 
even though it can be open to a certain amount of tactical voting.

And for those who would like to promote a better alternative to STV in 
important real-world elections (a completely hopeless mission, in my mind, 
but that is up to them) I would point out that they need a corpus of real 
examples where STV has led to the wrong result to convince anyone to change 
(not just theoretical examples, which convince no one).  So, using STV for 
this election might even help their cause if it really leads to the wrong 
result!

Graham