A different way to vote

Promoting better polling options

A message board unlike any other on the web

Try the Agora out: it's a message board with an important difference. The polling features have been modified so that you can create polls or cast your vote in ongoing polls using different election methods. It's easy to use and can be fun, too. If you want to try those new features out, you can go to the Testing, Testing... Agora and just test this new tool.
After that, if you wish, you can create your own polls in the Create your own polls... section and invite your friends to cast their ballot.
If there is no poll relevant for your country, just create one, using the names of celebrities, actors, singers or politicians that are better known in your country.
Of course, you can always take part in other ongoing polls in the same Agora.

Featured articles

• Plurality: misleading duality
• Agora documentation: Voting in a Condorcet election
• Agora documentation: reading the resulting Condorcet matrix

Towards a fairer and improved Election Method

There needn't be a general discontent with politics and elections

Must politicians really need to be that self serving?

If you haven't already noticed, ask around you and you'll quickly find out that many people are not interested in politics and especially fed up with self-serving politicians.
One must agree with them: political life is strife with problems, infighting, corruption etc...
Yet, people may be surprised when they realise that the root of those problems may be much simpler than they thought.

Politics should be the science of discussing public policies and share ideas so that the best laws are voted and the best action taken.
Politics in this sense should be a topic of interest to every concerned citizen.
Today, however, people have the (right) perception that politics is merely the art of politicians fighting each other in order to gain power. Unless one is interested in blood sports, one gets easily tired of such a poor show.

An election should be the process by which people dedicated to public service are selected to serve the citizens. But in truth an election is today only match of bloody infighting between people lusting for power.

It is astonishing to realise that the cause of this sad situation is simply because we chose an election method that fails to fulfill properly its functions.

A truly simple solution

The election methods a country uses is important: only a good method will ensure that the ideal candidate, the one who represents most of the population and whose policies are approved of by the majority of people, will be elected.

By using a slightly different election method such as Approval voting or Condorcet voting, many of the problems surrounding the elections and political life in general would be solved.

Try it out!

Now, you can stop by in the Agora, register and take part in existing Condorcet and Approval polls and create your own...

Articles

Featured articles

• Plurality: misleading duality
• Agora documentation: Voting in a Condorcet election
• Agora documentation: reading the resulting Condorcet matrix

Introduction to Alternative Election methods

• The Plurality Voting System
• Plurality: misleading duality
• The Approval Voting System
• Approval voting web site
• The Condorcet Voting System
  • Election Method web site
  • Agora documentation: Voting in a Condorcet election.
  • Agora documentation: reading the resulting Condorcet matrix.
• Instant Runoff Voting

Taiwan Elections

The 2004 Presidential election in Taiwan has come and gone, leaving a bitter feeling in the heart of many. So much violence, mutual hatred and distrust is not necessary at all. Here is more information more specific to Taiwan, showing how different the result would have been with a better voting system.

• <!---->Taiwan 20004 Presidential elections

Also on the Web...

1. Election Resources. org
   
   You will find links to Internet sites around the world which provide complete and detailed national and local election statistics, as well as other election resources.
   
   

2. Economic Democracy Information Network (EDIN)
   
   a project dedicated to expanding the voice of community organizations on the Information Superhighway.
   The EDIN Project is sponsored by UC-Berkeley's
   Center for Community Economic Research (CCER).
   
   
   Have a look at their directories of issues. It doesn't look up to date, though.
   
3. Elections and Electoral systems around the world
   
   A quite extensive list of links, organized per country.
   
   
   Worth having a look into it to see what we can dig out.
   
4. 
   
   
   

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Election methods evaluation

• Wikipedia: Monotonicity criterion
• Fairness CriteriaThis site proposes four fairness criteria. Beside the Monotonicity and Condorcet Criterion discussed above, in also lists the Majority Criterion and The Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives Criterion. I don't agree that the Majority Criterion is necessary in a fair election. Condorcet does not comply to this criterion but remains, in the eyes of many, the fairest election method available.
• Technical Evaluation of Election MethodsThis site offers a nice comparison between 6 elections methods and 9 fairness criteria.

• The Mathematics of Voting Another simple overview of voting methods.
• A pdf presentation in French on Election Methods.It is simple, consise and give a good overview of the issues involved.
• ElectionMethods.org is a must read and a good introduction on this topic.