Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Electoral methods
This series is part of the
Politics and the Election series. A voting system allows voters to choose between options often in an Election where candidates are selected for public office. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office
Politics Portal  view • talk • edit 

Sortition, also known as allotment, is an equal-chance method of selection by some form of lottery such as drawing coloured pebbles from a bag. The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member The two-round system (also known as the second ballot or runoff voting) is a Voting system used to elect a single winner The exhaustive ballot is a Voting system used to elect a single winner This article is about voting systems that use ranked ballots For alternative meanings see Preferential voting (disambiguation. The Condorcet candidate or Condorcet winner of an Election is the candidate who when compared with every other candidate is preferred by more voters A Condorcet method is any single-winner election method that meets the Condorcet criterion, that is which always selects the Condorcet winner, the candidate Copeland's method is a Condorcet method in which the winner is determined by finding the candidate with the most pairwise victories The Kemeny-Young method is a Voting system that uses Preferential ballots Pairwise comparison counts and sequence scores to identify the Minimax is often considered to be the simplest of the Condorcet methods It is also known as the Simpson-Kramer method, and the successive reversal method The Borda count can be combined with an Instant Runoff procedure to create hybrid election methods that are called Nanson method and Baldwin method. Ranked Pairs (RP or Tideman (named after its developer Nicolaus Tideman) is a Voting method that selects a single winner using votes that express The Schulze method is a Voting system developed in 1997 by Markus Schulze that selects a single winner using votes that express preferences. Bucklin voting is the name of a Voting system that can be used for single-member and multi-member districts. The Coombs' method, also called the Coombs rule is a Voting system created by Clyde Coombs used for single-winner Elections in which Instant-runoff voting ( IRV) is a Voting system used for single-winner elections in which voters have one vote and rank Candidates in order of The Borda count is a single-winner election method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference Approval voting is a single-winner voting system used for Elections Each voter may vote for (approve of as many of the candidates as they wish Range voting (also called ratings summation, average voting, cardinal ratings, score voting, 0–99 voting, or the score A voting system allows voters to choose between options often in an Election where candidates are selected for public office. Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation or PR is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes Cumulative voting (also accumulation voting or weighted voting) is a multiple-winner Voting system intended to promote Proportional representation Mixed member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is an ' additional member ' Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of Voting systems used in multiple-winner Elections (e Open list describes any variant of Party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected Closed list describes the variant of Party-list proportional representation where voters can (effectively only vote for political parties as a whole and thus The D'Hondt method (mathematically but not operationally equivalent to Jefferson's method, and Bader-Ofer method) is a Highest averages method for The highest averages method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list Voting systems. The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list Voting systems. The Sainte-Laguë method of the highest average (equivalent to Webster's method or divisor method with standard rounding is one way of allocating seats proportionally for Single transferable vote (STV is a preferential Voting system designed to minimize Wasted votes and provide Proportional representation The Quota Borda System or Quota Preference Score is a Voting system that was devised by the British philosopher Michael Dummett and first published in 1984 in his The matrix vote can be used when one group of people wishes to elect a smaller number of persons each of whom is to have a different assignment The Additional Member System (AMS is a branch of Voting systems in which some representatives are elected from geographic constituencies and others are elected under Parallel voting describes a mixed Voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections using different systems and where the results in one election have Cumulative voting (also accumulation voting or weighted voting) is a multiple-winner Voting system intended to promote Proportional representation The single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an Electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections Limited voting is a Voting system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available It is used particularly to allot decision makers. Decision making can be regarded as an outcome of mental processes ( cognitive process) leading to the selection of a course of action among several alternatives In Ancient Athenian Democracy sortition was the primary method for appointing officials, a system that was thought to be one of the principal characteristics of democracy. Athenian democracy developed in the Greek City-state of Athens It is today commonly used to select jurors in Anglo-Saxon based legal systems. The word Anglosphere describes a concept of a group of Anglophone ( English -speaking nations which share historical political and cultural characteristics rooted

Contents

Background

Athenian Democracy developed in the 6th century BC out of what they called isonomia (equality of political rights), and allotment was the principal way of achieving this fairness. Athenian democracy developed in the Greek City-state of Athens Isonomia (ἰσονομία "equality in front of the law" from the Greek ἴσος isos, "equal" and νόμος nomos, "usage custom It was used to select most[1] of the magistrates for their governing committees and for their juries (typically 501 people). A magistrate is a judicial officer In Common law systems a magistrate usually has limited authority to administer and enforce the Law. Special machines, Kleroterions, were used to ensure fair drawing of the lots. The kleroterion was a simple lottery device used by Athenians during the period of their democracy to randomly choose citizens for public posts

Aristotle relates equality and democracy:

"Democracy arose from the idea that those who are equal in any respect are equal absolutely. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. All are alike free, therefore they claim that all are free absolutely. . . The next is when the democrats, on the grounds that they are all equal, claim equal participation in everything. "[2]

In Athens, "Democracy" (literally meaning rule by the people) was in opposition to those supporting oligarchy (rule by a few) and Democracy was characterised by being run by the "many" (the ordinary people) who were allotted to the committees which ran government. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Thucydides has Pericles make this point in his Funeral Oration:

"It is administered by the many instead of the few; that is why it is called a democracy. Thucydides ( C 460 BC &ndash C 395 BC) ( Greek Θουκυδίδης Thoukydídēs) was a Greek Pericles (also spelled Perikles) (c 495 – 429 BC Greek:, meaning "surrounded by glory" was a prominent and influential Statesman, orator "[3]

The Athenians believed sortition to be more democratic than elections[1] and used complex procedures with purpose built allotment machines to avoid the corrupt practices used by oligarchs to buy their way into office. According to the author Mogens Herman Hansen the citizen's court was superior to the assembly because the allotted members swore an oath which ordinary citizens in the assembly did not and therefore the court could annul the decisions of the assembly. Mogens Herman Hansen (b August 20 1940 in Frederiksberg, Denmark) is a Danish classical philologist who is one of the leading scholars Both Aristotle[1] and Herodotus (one of the earliest writers on democracy) emphasise selection by lot as a test of democracy:

"The rule of the people has the fairest name of all, equality (isonomia), and does none of the things that a monarch does. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash The lot determines offices, power is held accountable, and deliberation is conducted in public. "[4]

Past scholarship maintained that sortition had its roots in the use of chance to divine the will of the gods, but this view is no longer common among scholars. [5]

Today, sortition is commonly used in selecting juries in Anglo Saxon legal systems and in small groups (e. A jury a sworn body of persons convened to render a rational, impartial Verdict (a finding of fact on a question officially submitted to them g. , picking a school class monitor by drawing straws). Drawing straws is a Selection method used by a group to choose one person to do a task when no one has volunteered for it In public decision making, individuals are often allotted if other forms of selection such as election fail to achieve a result. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office Examples include certain hung elections and certain votes in the UK Parliament. Some contemporary thinkers have advocated a greater use of selection by lot in today’s political systems for example Lords Reform and the Iraqi constitution [1]. A political system is a System of Politics and Government. It is usually compared to the Law system, Economic system, Cultural For almost a century governments in the United Kingdom have attempted to find a way to undertake a comprehensive reform of the House of Lords, which is the Upper house Sortition proposals put forward in the modern world generally relate to the means for selecting a large legislative body (such as the U. S. Congress) from among the adult population at large.

Advantages

Effective representation of the interests of the people

A modern advocate of sortition, political scientist John Burnheim, argues for sortition as follows (Is Democracy Possible?, pp. John Burnheim, former Professor of General Philosophy at the University of Sydney, Australia. 124-5):

But do we, in order to have democracy, have to find a way in which the demos first makes up its mind what is to be done and then controls its representatives in the process of carrying it out? What I want to suggest is a different conception. Let the convention for deciding what is our common will be that we will accept the decision of a group of people who are well informed about the question, well-motivated to find as good a solution as possible and representative of our range of interests simply because they are statistically representative of us as a group. If this group is then responsible for carrying out what it decides, the problem of control of the execution process largely vanishes. Those directing the execution process are carrying out their own decisions. They may need a little prodding to keep them up to the mark, but there is no institutional basis for a conflict of interest between bodies responsible for making decisions and those responsible for execution. They have an overriding interest in showing that their decisions are practical and well-grounded.

Fairness & Equality
Sortition is inherently egalitarian in that it ensures all citizens have an equal chance of entering office irrespective of any bias in society and would push in the direction of an equal society where there is no meaningful difference between members of the society that would make one more suitable than another.
Democratic
Almost all Greek writers who mention democracy (including Aristotle,[1] Plato and Herodotus) both emphasise the role of selection by lot or state outright that being allotted is more democratic than elections. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash For example Aristotle says:

"it is thought to be democratic for the offices to be assigned by lot, for them to be elected is oligarchic,"[6]

We see the same idea in the 18th century after the re-emergence of democracy in the writings of Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu:

"The suffrage by lot is natural to democracy, as that by choice is to aristocracy"[7]

Less corruptible than elections
Because processes can be developed to ensure that selection is completely fair. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Charles-Louis de Secondat baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (Eng For example, Athenians used complex allotment procedures with complicated machine to allot officers. Like Athenian democrats, critics of electoral politics in the twenty-first century argue that the process of election by vote is subject to manipulation by money and other powerful forces and because legislative elections give power to a few powerful groups they are believed to be less democratic system than selection by lot from amongst the population. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office
Fair representation
Modern supporters see selection by lot as overcoming the various demographic biases in race, religion, sex, etc. The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of categorizing Humans into Populations or groups on the basis of various sets A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos An organism's sex is defined by the gametes it produces males produce male gametes (spermatozoa or Sperm) while females produce female gametes (ova or Egg cells; individual apparent in many legislative assemblies. This actually differs somewhat from Athenian democracy, in which women (and others) could not vote and therefore a bias was inherent. Athenian democracy developed in the Greek City-state of Athens
Power to ordinary people
An inherent problem with electoral politics is the over-representative of the politically active groups in society who tend to be those who join political parties. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office For example in 2000 less than 2% [8] of the UK population belonged to a political party whilst in 2005 there were at best only 3 independent MPs (see List of UK minor party and independent MPs elected) so that 99. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This is a list of members of the United Kingdom House of Commons who were elected as an independent or as a member of a minor political party 5% of all UK MPs belonged to a political party. A political party is a Political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within Government, usually by participating in electoral As a result political members of the UK population were represented by one MP per 1800 of those belonging to a party whilst those who did not belong to a party had one MP per 19million individuals who did not belong to a party.
Voter fatigue
Supporters also argue that sortition alleviates the problems of voter fatigue and rational ignorance, which is seen as a problem in both representative democracy and direct democracy. In Politics, voter fatigue is the apathy that the electorate can experience when they are required to vote too often Rational ignorance is a term most often found in Economics particularly Public choice theory, but also used in other disciplines which study Rationality Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principles of the people's representatives Direct Democracy is a movement within the British Conservative Party dedicated to localism and Constitutional reform as a means of reviving public

Disadvantages

Sortition does not discriminate
The most common argument against pure sortition (that is, with no prior selection of an eligible group) is that it does not discriminate those selected and takes no account of particular skills or experience that might be needed to effectively discharge the particular offices filled. Just as the Athenians did not choose generals (Strategos) by lot, so today most would agree that random selection from the general population would not be a good way of filling the role of medical surgeon or aircraft pilot due to the specialist skills that those roles require. For the board game see Stratego. "Strategus" redirects here Surgery (from the χειρουργική cheirourgikē, via chirurgiae meaning "hand work" is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental The same is argued for many political offices as under a system based on election, it is thought unlikely that those manifestly lacking the requisite skills will be elected to office. According to Xenophon (Memorabilia Book I, 2. Xenophon (Ancient Greek, Modern Greek "Ξενοφών" "Ξενοφώντας" ca The Memorabilia are also known by the alternate Latin title Commentarii, the Greek title Apomnemoneumata (Απομνημονεύματα 9), this classical argument was offered by Socrates:

"[Socrates] taught his companions to despise the established laws by insisting on the folly of appointing public officials by lot, when none would choose a pilot or builder or flautist by lot, nor any other craftsman for work in which mistakes are far less disastrous than mistakes in statecraft. SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. "

The same argument is also made by Edmund Burke in his essay Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790):

"There is no qualification for government but virtue and wisdom, actual or presumptive. Edmund Burke ( 12 January, 1729 9 July, 1797) was an Irish statesman author orator Political theorist, and [. . . ] Everything ought to be open, but not indifferently, to every man. No rotation; no appointment by lot; no mode of election operating in the spirit of sortition or rotation can be generally good in a government conversant in extensive objects. Because they have no tendency, direct or indirect, to select the man with a view to the duty or to accommodate the one to the other. "

However, supporters of sortition argue that there is nothing in the structure of elected government (or of dictatorships, we might add) that suggests representatives will be any more intelligent or capable than those they represent. Indeed, the very question is complex, since we can always ask, "who defines capable?". Moreover, political decision making is arguably not a craft or science, as Socrates suggests. There is not one correct answer to a political question, as in science or mathematics, but rather politics is a question of values, interests and aims. In a democracy, the values, interests and aims that should be satisfied are those of the populace, and therefore the populace is arguably qualified by definition. Certainly, there is room for expertise in formulating the process whereby people's aims will be achieved, but not in deciding those aims. A randomly selected house could listen to the advice of experts, as elected houses do now.
Sortition can put in power people with minority views
Some of the officials selected by sortition may hold views that greatly differ from those common in the population. For example, an unusually rich official may be selected, and once in power may try to use it to change a tax system in a way that will benefit himself and other rich individuals, in a manner that is opposed by, and possibly detrimental to, individuals who are not as wealthy.
The voting process creates interest, debate, learning, and community
The process of voting in itself has value; it creates interest and public debate on the future direction of public policy; it may also encourage deeper learning on the issues at stake; it also makes people less isolated by creating various organizations and parties.
Voting confers legitimacy
Those who see voting as expressing the "consent of the governed", maintain that voting is able to confer legitimacy in the selection. According to this view, elected officials can act with greater authority than when randomly selected. A counter-argument is that by consenting to sortition as used for a jury, the public consents to this form of selection.
Sortition is a form of compulsion
Unless the system of sorition allows people to opt out of serving, measures for compelling people to serve need to be instituted.
Enthusiasm of the representatives
In an elected system, the representatives are to a degree self-selecting for their enthusiasm for the job. Under sortition the individuals are not chosen for their enthusiasm. Many electoral systems assign to those chosen a role as representing their constituents; a complex job with a significant workload. Elected representative choose to accept any additional workload; voters can also choose those representatives most willing to accept the burden involved in being a representative. Individuals chosen at random have no particular enthusiasm for their role and therefore may not make good advocates for a constituency.

Methods

Before the random selection can be done, the pool of candidates must be defined. Systems vary as to whether they allot from eligible volunteers, or from the membership or population at large.

The selection method should be carefully designed in order to preserve public confidence that it has not been rigged. One robust, general, public method allotment is RFC 3797: Publicly Verifiable Nomcom Random Selection. Using it, multiple specific sources of random numbers (e. g. lotteries) are selected in advance, and an algorithm is defined for selecting the winners based on those random numbers. When the random numbers become available, anyone can calculate the winners.

Examples

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes", Mogens Herman Hansen, ISBN 1-85399-585-1
  2. ^ Aristotle Politics 1301a28-35
  3. ^ Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. Cleromancy is a form of Divination using Sortition, casting of lots or casting bones in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office The random ballot Voting method takes the one person one vote principle to an extreme by only counting the vote of one person Demarchy ("Dem" being short for demos meaning people and " -archy " meaning rule is a hypothetical political system run by randomly selected decision Mogens Herman Hansen (b August 20 1940 in Frederiksberg, Denmark) is a Danish classical philologist who is one of the leading scholars The Funeral Oration of Pericles.
  4. ^ Herodotus The Histories 3. 80. 6
  5. ^ Bernard Manin, The Principles of Representative Government
  6. ^ Aristotle, Politics 4. 1294b
  7. ^ Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws, Book 2, Chapter 2
  8. ^ http://www.perfect.co.uk/2004/09/the-decline-of-the-political-party

External links

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic