[ARIN-consult] Consultation on Implementing Single Transferrable Voting for ARIN Elections

[Adam Thompson]

Peter, I don’t have a problem with STV.  I do have a problem with the board having the latitude – unfettered – to keep changing voting systems without further bylaw amendments.  The type of voting structure, particularly when deviating from the norm that’s baked into Virginia law, should then be baked into the bylaws so that it can’t change in the middle of the night, perhaps even during an election.

Do I trust the current board to not pull stuff like that?  Yeah, probably, I think...  (In fact, can I even name the current board members?  No.  But that’s a different problem.)  Am I willing to blindly trust every future board that might exist?  Absolutely not.  I’ve seen how boards can be co-opted, infiltrated, and/or “turned to the dark side” (so to speak) elsewhere.

As far as the consultation’s goal to determine whether STV is OK or not?  Yes, it is good.  This is an excellent move overall.

-Adam

Adam Thompson
Consultant, Infrastructure Services
[MERLIN]
100 - 135 Innovation Drive
Winnipeg, MB, R3T 6A8
(204) 977-6824 or 1-800-430-6404 (MB only)
athompson at merlin.mb.ca<mailto:athompson at merlin.mb.ca>
www.merlin.mb.ca<http://www.merlin.mb.ca/>

From: ARIN-consult <arin-consult-bounces at arin.net> On Behalf Of Peter Harrison
Sent: Friday, January 7, 2022 11:53 AM
To: arin-consult at arin.net
Subject: Re: [ARIN-consult] Consultation on Implementing Single Transferrable Voting for ARIN Elections

Dear Community,


With STV there are many ways to re-allocate votes, and new ones may be invented. The videos presented previously illustrated one method.


This link explains some of the options: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked_voting#Comparison_of_ranked_voting_methods


We will need to balance the range of options with those provided by current and future vendors of ARIN’s voting systems. Investigations are being made by staff and they will make recommendations to the board based on their research into our needs, best practices, practicability, relative merit, legal implications and systems availability.


The purpose of the consultation is to get a sense of whether this is a good idea overall. The board will work hard to ensure that we are working in the best interest of the members and the region they serve when evaluating the choices presented.


As John explained, the bylaw modification was made to accommodate multiple forms of voting that may be required in future. The concern that this could lead to opportunistic changes to systems each election cycle is sound. We will investigate ways to ensure this does not happen with possible bylaw wording to meet these and other goals.


The Governance Working Group has worked very closely with both the executive team and staff on this consultation. Their support for a workable solution and concern for the membership has been evident every step of the way. These consultations are the result of over two years of research and were not taken lightly. We will continue to work to maintain this excellent collaboration.


Thank you for your feedback.

Peter
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