USFA Vice Presidential Straw Poll

[epeemike81]

Well, I can't quite do preferential voting...

Pick three, please

-m

[epeemike81]

Bump to put it up top and get more responses.

-m

[mfp]

Well, I can't quite do preferential voting...

You can at least do some of the first round of preferential voting by asking poll voters to pick one and only one.

It would be interesting to see if a candidate receives a majority in the first poll round and which other candidate would be eliminated.

[tchwojko]

You can at least do some of the first round of preferential voting by asking poll voters to pick one and only one.

It would be interesting to see if a candidate receives a majority in the first poll round and which other candidate would be eliminated.

There's a cost/benefit ratio there that doesn't seem worth the effort for a straw poll of a subset of eligible voters, and that probably wouldn't change the outcome all that much anyway.

[Swordmaster]

Well, I can't quite do preferential voting...

Pick three, please

-m

I don't think it will make any difference...
more later....

[tchwojko]

I don't think it will make any difference...
more later....

I'm sorry, that wasn't anywhere near cryptic enough to spawn entertaining conspiracy theories. Please add some color next time.

[epeemike81]

damn, I can't rep you right now, tchwojko.

-m

[telkanuru]

Got you covered, mike.

[mfp]

The USFA bylaws state "“The National officers of the USFA shall be elected by a majority of votes cast.” That's votes, not voters.

Currently 57 + 51 + 56 + 21 + 15 + 18 = 218 votes have been cast. A candidate would require 110 or more votes out of 218 to secure a majority -- no candidate in the straw poll is close. No VP has been straw elected. This poll is straw flawed and shows why simply marking 3 Xs won't work. It can't follow the majority of votes requirement of the bylaws and elect more than one VP and in this case it failed to elect even one.

(218 is also not evenly divisible by 3 btw)

[Swordmaster]

The USFA bylaws state "“The National officers of the USFA shall be elected by a majority of votes cast.” That's votes, not voters.

Currently 57 + 51 + 56 + 21 + 15 + 18 = 218 votes have been cast. A candidate would require 110 or more votes out of 218 to secure a majority -- no candidate in the straw poll is close. No VP has been straw elected. This poll is straw flawed and shows why simply marking 3 Xs won't work. It can't follow the majority of votes requirement of the bylaws and elect more than one VP and in this case it failed to elect even one.

(218 is also not evenly divisible by 3 btw)

I beg to differ...a majority can be as simple as 1 vote as in a simple majority.

[KD5MDK]

I believe that would be a plurality.

[mfp]

I beg to differ...a majority can be as simple as 1 vote as in a simple majority.

The USFA bylaws state national officers are to be elected by a majority (not plurality) of the votes cast and that elections are to follow RRoO:

Elections by Majority. The National officers of the USFA shall be elected by a majority of the votes cast.

[...]

[P]rocedure relating to contested elections shall be governed by the provisions of Roberts Rules of Order.

And Roberts Rules state:

The word "majority" means more than half.

[...]

A "plurality vote" is the largest number of votes to be given to any candidate or proposition when three or more choices are possible; the candidate or proposition receiving the largest number of votes has a plurality. A plurality that is not a majority never chooses a proposition or elects anyone to office except by virtue of a special rule previously adopted. If such a rule is to apply to the election of officers, it must be prescribed in the bylaws.