[Linux-aus] Only two more days of voting!

[David Lloyd]

Classically, if you get two equal votes for one position AND
redistributing those votes wouldn't make sense you simply use a suitable
random means to choose the winner.

DSL

[eg:

There are 4 positions and 5 candidates.

3 positions get filled, meaning there's now one position and 2
candidates.

Candidate Alpha and Candidate Omega get 4 votes each.

There's three broad ways to handle this:

 1. Declare the WHOLE election void and start again (and keep on doing
    so until Alpha and Omega or whoever don't get equal votes)

 2. Use some arbitrary method to select Alpha or Omega

 3. Leave the position vacant and then act as though there's a vacancy
    on the committee

Most organisations - including the Australian Senate and House of
Assembly - choose (2) where the arbitrary method is meant to be truly
random. It could also be on whose surname is first, whether they own 6
chooks or whatever :)

Option (3) is normally tantamount to asking the other members to choose
any member of the organisation who is eligible to be on the committee on
the organisation's behalf. This is on the basis that MOST constitutions
basically say that positions vacated during term (or not filled at all)
can be filled by the committee by majority vote.

I'd suggest (2) or perhaps (3).]