I’d prefer a voting mechanism that factored in as much of the vote as possible. I suspect that cause area will be a major determinant of individuals’ votes, and would prefer that the voting structure promote engagement and participation for people with varying cause prioritizations.
Suppose we have 40% for cause A orgs, 25% for cause B orgs, 20% for cause C orgs, and 15% for various smaller causes. I would not prefer a method likely to select three organizations from cause A—I don’t think that outcome would be actually representative of the polis, and voting rules that would lead to such an outcome will discourage engagement and participation from people who sense that their preferred causes are not the leading one.
I’m not sure how to effectuate that preference in a voting system, although maybe people who have thought about voting systems more deeply than I could figure it out. I do think approval voting would be problematic; some voters might strategically disapprove all candidates except in their preferred cause area, which could turn the election into a cause-area election rather than an organization-specific one. Otherwise, it might be appropriate to assign each organization to a cause area, and provide that (e.g.) no more than half of all funds will go to organizations in the same cause area. If that rule were invoked, it would likely require selecting additional organizations than the initial three.
The more I think about this, the more I’d like at least one winner to be selected randomly among orgs that reach a certain vote threshold—unsure if it should be weighted by vote total or equal between orgs. Maybe that org gets 15 to 20 percent of the take? That’s a legible way to keep minority voices engaged despite knowing their preferences won’t end up reflected in the top three.
I’d prefer a voting mechanism that factored in as much of the vote as possible. I suspect that cause area will be a major determinant of individuals’ votes, and would prefer that the voting structure promote engagement and participation for people with varying cause prioritizations.
Suppose we have 40% for cause A orgs, 25% for cause B orgs, 20% for cause C orgs, and 15% for various smaller causes. I would not prefer a method likely to select three organizations from cause A—I don’t think that outcome would be actually representative of the polis, and voting rules that would lead to such an outcome will discourage engagement and participation from people who sense that their preferred causes are not the leading one.
I’m not sure how to effectuate that preference in a voting system, although maybe people who have thought about voting systems more deeply than I could figure it out. I do think approval voting would be problematic; some voters might strategically disapprove all candidates except in their preferred cause area, which could turn the election into a cause-area election rather than an organization-specific one. Otherwise, it might be appropriate to assign each organization to a cause area, and provide that (e.g.) no more than half of all funds will go to organizations in the same cause area. If that rule were invoked, it would likely require selecting additional organizations than the initial three.
The more I think about this, the more I’d like at least one winner to be selected randomly among orgs that reach a certain vote threshold—unsure if it should be weighted by vote total or equal between orgs. Maybe that org gets 15 to 20 percent of the take? That’s a legible way to keep minority voices engaged despite knowing their preferences won’t end up reflected in the top three.