Using Approval and Range Voting
for AAS Elections
Student Government Election Systems
Overview
8 main criteria
Evaluation of Student Government Election Systems
- Majority - Plurality Voting system
- Anonymous, Neutral, Monotone, Majority Criterion, Ease of Use and Implementation
- Spoiler effect, large number of wasted votes, limited range of voter choice, subjected to fraud and manipulation, low voter turnout
- 3 main systems:
- Majority-Plurality Voting systems:
- Amherst College, Louisiana State University, Macalester College
- Dartmouth Collge, UMass Amherst, Boston University
- IRV-STV systems:
- MIT, Northeastern University, Harvard University
- Approval Voting:
- Princeton University, University of Colorado
- Anonymity
- Neutrality
- Monotonicity
- Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives
- Minimal Number of Wasted Votes
- Sufficient Range of Voter Choice
- Ease of Comprehension and Use
- Resistance to Fraud and Manipulation
- Research AAS election system versus 10 other colleges (multi-seat elections versus single office elections)
- Establish a list of evaluating criteria
- Evaluate different systems
- Conclude on:
- Range voting for single-office elections
- Approval voting for multi-seat elections
Evaluation of New Election System
Proposed Changes to Election Rules
Evaluation of Student Government Election Systems
Single-office Election System: Range Voting
- Criteria-based Evaluation:
- Anonymous, Neutral, Monotone, IIA, smaller number of wasted votes, broader range of expression, ease of comprehension and use, resistance to fraud and manipulation
- Practicality and Context Evaluation
- Ease of implementation, Application of Quota Rule, Possible Score Counting Problem, Rating Efficiency
Multi-seat Election System: Approval Voting
- Criteria-based Evaluation
- Practicality and Context Evaluation
- Possible violation of Majority Rule
- Single-office Elections:
- Voters rate candidates on a scale of 1-10
- Quota = 6.0
- Winning candidate is the one who receives the highest score (> or = 6.0)
- In case of tie: Majority Rule
- Multi-seat Elections:
- Voters may approve only once for a candidate but can approve as many candidates as they would like
- Quota = 50%
- Senate Election Winners: 8 candidates with highest approval rate (> or = 50%)
- Judiciary Council Winners: 3 candidates with highest approval rate (> or = 50%)
- In case of tie: Majority Rule
- IRV-STV systems
- Anonymous, neutral, reduced spoiler effect, broader range of expression, lower number of wasted votes
- Non-monotonicity, complicated process, implementation difficulty, reduced voter turnout
- Approval Voting systems
- Anonymous, neutral, monotone, IIA, smaller number of wasted votes (unless bullet voting), reduced spoiler effect, simplicity
- Equally weighted votes, possible election of bland candidate, manipulation by candidates and voters.