[Lnc-business] At-Large Elections

[Nicholas Sarwark]

Dear All,

Pursuant to the delegates suspension of the rules at convention after
overturning the ruling of the Chair, the top five vote-getters are
properly elected to the At-Large seats on the LNC by the delegates in
convention.  Objections to the procedure taken by the delegates are
out of order, as such objections have to be properly raised during the
convention session.

As to the Judicial Committee, I'll defer to Chuck Moulton's analysis
and suggest that the LNC pass a motion that acknowledges the top seven
vote-getters as the Judicial Committee.

There has been a lot of discussion about convention schedules,
electronic voting systems, errors in tallying, etc. These discussions
miss the point.  Using approval voting for a multi-member election
that does not allow for winning by plurality is likely the worst
possible election method to get At-Large members elected.

In the past, we were allowed to vote for as many candidates as there
were positions available, and we rarely went to a second ballot.  An
instant runoff or single transferable system would reallocate those
votes for candidates with minimal support.

If the goal of At-Large members is to represent interest groups within
the Libertarian Party, we are using the wrong voting system.  If it is
merely to determine who is most popular in the party, we are using the
correct system, but it will continue to produce results like we've had
two conventions in a row based on the nature of the system.

In short, counting ballots faster doesn't matter if we're still voting wrong.

Yours truly,
Nick