The value of a vote

[Johnny Cache]

I read the question posed by wywrdson in the Candidates Corner and it made me think of the voting system. In past elections, if there were 4 positions up for election, you had 4 votes to use or not use on any of the candidates. I recall a past election where my number one candidate missed being one of the top 3,4 or 5 vote getters and missed a board seat by a couple votes. At that time, I used all my votes for the candidates I thought could help the WGA the most. I didn’t realize that voting for my other choices would “water down” my top choice position. If I had only voted for that one candidate, they would have been 1 vote closer. If others thought that way, the election could have had a different outcome.

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the current voting system? Would ranking the 5 votes, like they do in sports, be a better alternative?

Discuss…

[sandlanders]

You vote for whomever you think will do a good job on the Board and for the WGA, up to the max. If that’s only one person, vote for one. If there are five candidates you like, vote for five… or anywhere in between. If you feel very strongly about one or two candidates, and you are lukewarm or don’t really know the others, vote for only the one or two. There’s no rule that says you have to vote for the maximum number just because you are allowed to.

No need to weight any votes. The BOD election is a straightforward election for positions, nothing fancy. This resembles our school board elections. If there are five people running for three positions, but I think three or four of the candidates would do a terrible job, I only vote for the one or two I think would do a good job in the position.

If there is a ballot with many different offices on it, and a race is uncontested and I don’t care for the candidate, I will probably leave that race unmarked. Some voters don’t care about many of the races and only vote on one or two races on the ballot.

I think the voting should remain as is; there do not appear to be any problems with the set-up. Voters need to educate themselves on the issues, the candidates, and, as you have mentioned, the consequences of how they may vote.

[Jeremy]

@Johnny Cache wrote:

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the current voting system? Would ranking the 5 votes, like they do in sports, be a better alternative?

Here is an alternative, widely used in Australia, Ireland, and other countries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_voting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote

It is much more complicated than our current voting scheme and has its own issues. In the end, I’m not sure it would change the outcome much… but people may feel better that their votes aren’t being wasted and that the election is more fair (and thus be more likely to vote in the first place).

In the last two elections it seems people have become wise to the things Johnny mentioned… like voting for someone you aren’t sure of just to “use up” your 5 votes could bump your preferred candidate out of the top 5 and cause them to lose. There have been more ballots submitted with only 2 or 3 votes.

[Lostby7]

I rarely use all my votes…and do not plan to do so this year.

[kansas64]

Last year I used 2 votes. This year I can not use any, as I have left my membership lapse and will not be hitting renew anytime soon.

But I agree with the question, is our voting system the best. I dont know, I have no suggestions or solutions, but I feel we can do better

[cheezehead]

@kansas64 wrote:

Last year I used 2 votes. This year I can not use any, as I have left my membership lapse and will not be hitting renew anytime soon.

But I agree with the question, is our voting system the best. I dont know, I have no suggestions or solutions, but I feel we can do better

So then why do you even care and why do you keep flaunting it? You have no reason to complain about anything the WGA & the BOD does then. Your non-vote may not effect you but it could effect others.

[-cheeto-]

Thanks John for pointing out that you don’t have to vote 5 times. It’s important that everyone does understand this.

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