Watch the video: John Cleese on Proportional Voting. Can't see the video? Download the file here.

According to the bylaws, this election will use the CHOICE VOTING form of proportional representation (also call "Single Transferable Vote" or simply "STV"). Proportional representation refers to voting systems in which groups of voters win representation in proportion to their numbers. For example, 10% of the voters will elect approximately 10% of the seats, 20% of voters will elect 20% of the seats and so forth. The majority wins a majority but not all of the seats, while minority viewpoints also win their fair share of the seats.

The CHOICE VOTING form of proportional representation is a system in which voters rank candidates in order of choice. The method of tallying votes is designed to facilitate each voter having someone elected to the board that is acceptable to him/her. CHOICE VOTING tends to prevent monolithic "slates" of candidates from monopolizing a board. In this way, CHOICE VOTING promotes diversity and democracy. This is different from winner-take-all elections where the majority has the potential to elect every single seat on the board, leaving minority viewpoints unrepresented.

How It Works

If there are 25 candidates for nine positions, then every ballot will ask members to RANK the 25 candidates in order of preference, from 1 to 25.

Since there are nine spaces to be filled, it will take a little more than 10% of the vote for a candidate to reach the proportional threshold necessary to win election. This is because if nine candidates each got 10.01% of the vote, this would add up to 90.09% of the vote. It would then be impossible for a tenth candidate to have more votes than those top nine, since there is only 9.91% of the vote remaining.

In the first round of voting, the first place candidate on each ballot receives one vote. Any candidate that has achieved the threshold percentage is declared a winner.

At this point second place votes begin to count. First, candidates that had more votes than they needed (say, 13%), have portions of their vote redistributed to the second choice candidates of the individuals who placed them first on their ballots. Second, low vote-getting candidates, who are below the point where it would be possible for them to achieve the threshold, also have their votes distributed to the individuals who were ranked second on their ballots.

Through a series of rounds of redistributing votes this way, eventually a full Board of nine individuals achieves the threshold, and are declared elected.

Because your first choice vote counts entirely for your preference as long as s/he needs the vote to be elected, it never hurts your candidate to rank others below her/him.

Because your ballot continues to shape the results for as long as it takes to fill a complete Board, it is always a good idea to rank many candidates. Ranking additional candidates ensures that your vote will be maximized, and no part of your vote will be wasted.

The best strategy for a voter is to rank every candidate in order or as many candidates as you have an opinion about.

Vote Quorum Required

To make this election valid, the bylaws require at least 10% of the eligible voters to actually vote. The on-air staff will encourage listeners to run for office and to cast their ballots but must refrain from endorsing candidates on-air.

Interested in learning more about the election process we use (Single Transferable Vote)?

Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Transferable_Vote