SR - 2nd time around

[tmcd at jump.net]

One thing struck me in an earlier message about the first vote.  If I
Recall Correctly, someone said that the ballots were distributed in
Bjornsborg on the night that they were discussing baronial candidates,
and that affected voting.  Only one chance to vote?  In Bryn Gwlad, I
think the seneschal brought the ballots to most every Tuesday night
fighter practice in the voting period and mentioned them in the
public-announcements section (right?).  They can also be taken to
other gatherings that are popular.

As for vote procedures, seneschals might also point out that people
can vote not only for the choices that stir their blood, but also for
choices that are just acceptable or OK.  I was surprised at how few
choices were marked on each ballot.  I wonder now what people thought
of the other choices: "eh" or "bleah"?


I spoke to a few people about the previous vote.  They said that there
was resistance to the idea of having any name at all, that writing-in
Sibylla was part of the protest.  I did notice the 4 (I think) ballots
that had "None of the Above" as the only vote, but it's not clear to
me whether those were from people who didn't like the choices
presented or who really wanted no name.  Does this match other
people's experiences?

I think people who don't want a name really should somehow be included
and their votes counted too.  (I can't point to Worldcon/Hugo examples
for how to do it, because they're pretty much supposed to happen every
year.)  I'm not sure what ideas I might suggest.  Alternatives that
come to mind include:

0) (OK, I'm an old C programmer.)  To be considered for registration
   and use, any choice must receive more than 50% of the votes cast
   and must beat None of the Above.  Then the ballot should emphasize
   the importance of voting for choices that the voter considers at
   least acceptable, but also mention that choosing only "None of the
   Above" is a way to vote against the entire result.

1) a vote line reading

    ___ I want the region to just continue being "The Southern Region".
        (To vote this choice, mark this with an X and don't vote for
        any names.)

2) Or,

    ___ If this is marked X and all my votes go to discarded choices,
        I want the region to just continue being "The Southern Region".

If extra space is needed on the ballots, perhaps a few names could be
dropped -- say, the ones that received no first-place votes in the
first attempt?
    Cuestas de Cedros
    Las Colinas
    Las Colinas del Sur

Ideas?  Opinions?

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
                   *** NEW HOME E-MAIL ADDRESS ***
Tim McDaniel (home); Reply-To: tmcd at jump.net; 
if that fail, my work addresses are  tmcd at austin.ibm.com and tmcd at us.ibm.com.
tmcd at tmcd.austin.tx.us is a lie; tmcd at crl.com is old and will go away.

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.