AAA Standards Committee

Proposal for a Standards Committee voting procedure:

That the AAA Standards Committee (SC) use a ballot with “points awarded by ranking” to pick a chair or chairpersons. If the SC decides to use a co-chair structure, the 2 persons with the most points could serve as co-chairs. A sample ballot for your consideration follows.

SAMPLE BALLOT
Write the name of the candidate you would most prefer on the first line,
your second preference on the second line,
and if you have a third choice, write that name on the third line.

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Your first choice will receive 3 points, second 2 points, and third receives 1 point.
You may vote for up to three candidates.
You may write in candidates who have not been nominated.

Votes will be double-tallied by SC members.

Some background on 5 major forms of voting:

1) Plurality (Winner-take-all)
Useful for choices between 2 alternatives. May allow a minority candidate to win when there are 3 or more candidates.

2) Primaries and run-offs
Choices are made from a shrinking field of candidates through a series of votes.

3) Points awarded by ranking
Voters rank choices from first to last and points are totaled from all voters. Useful for making a selection from a number of choices in a single vote.

4) Approval voting
Voters vote for any number of candidates without ranking. The candidate with the most votes wins.

5) Distributed points
Useful for determining a distribution of resources, such as funding. Voters are given a fixed number of points to award across a field of candidates.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_system
http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/vote/vote.html