Email addresses mangled to defuse spambots; you must un-mangle.
1: Smith, Warren D. warren.wds (in; gmail /dot- com;631-675-6128; 21 Shore Oaks Drive, Stony Brook , NY, USA 11790; CRV founder. Mathematician.
2: Kok, Jan jan.kok.5y (at- gmail /dot- com;Fort Collins, CO, USA 80528; CRV co-founder. Voting reform activist since 2000. Served as Troubleshooter for a large voting center in 2004 general election. Electrical and software engineer. Libertarian, but I believe that most alternative parties share several common goals that we should work on together, in particular, implementing better voting methods for public elections. Toastmaster. Currently doing public relations and recruiting for CRV in my spare time, but I would welcome help from others.
3: Ossipoff, Mike
4: Salomon, Joel C.
6: Frank, Michael P. Tallahassee, FL, USA 32303; Studied a little about voting theory during grad school. Strong programmer (Int'l ACM contest winner), but not up on all the latest whizzy software technologies. Democrat. Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at a College of Engineering. Background in computer science and electrical engineering. Joining because I feel strongly that the Range Voting movement is a noble cause, and I'd like to see it succeed. I would like to see an eloquent range-voting proponent land an nationally broadcast TV interview (perhaps Jon Stewart on the Daily Show would be sympathetic to the cause).
8: Cranshaw Simon
9: Heinonen Toni Finnish libertarian party, Finnish direct democracy organization (nivalta)
13: Mckenzie jmckenzie_10 -in] hotmail (dot; com;514-768-9054; apple way, mcqueen, ca, USA 90210; i have no skills and just want to see the answer to one puzzle because its really bugging me and im not even an american.
15: Aaron Krowne Fields: computer science, mathematics, economics Research areas: digital libraries, information retrieval, social computing, machine learning Skills: technical management, programming, writing (formal and informal), investing I run a nonprofit and am involved in a number of commercial startup ventures, all centering around computer, web services, networks, and the like. My "day job" is Head of Digital Library Research, at Emory University, Atlanta, GA. It is a research faculty position. I lead the technical development of digital library grant projects. I am a member of no party, but I consider myself unadulteratedly libertarian, philosophically. I am joining because I am very much behind this cause. It is probably the most important issue for this country, but agonizingly, no one knows it. I dont have any changes to suggest yet. At some point you'll probably want to get someone with graphics skills to polish up the site, but I think you know that. In terms of outreach: I think probably the most effective thing there will be to do, as soon as possible, is to get buy-in from established progressive groups, to leverage them to evangelize the cause.
17: Kenck, Tony I am very interested in election methods, believing that our current system is the root of MANY evils.
19: Welland, Matt I am putting together a web site, http://www.kiatoa.com, where I hope to promote things that make for a better world. I was promoting approval voting but now that I understand range voting I will shift to it. Please add more material to your site that explains how range voting works. It took me too much time to figure it out. You can safely assume I will not be the only slow person accessing your site :-)
21: Foster, William K.
22: Meeks, W. Scott wsmeeks (at/ alum (.) mit [dot- edu;
24: Henriques Rodrigo rodrigoaga [at] gmail -dot, com;I would love to help CRV translate the entire site to protuguese. We do need to spread the word around .
25: Altay, Gabriel Im a physics PhD student who would like to do something that has a chance of impacting the world. What Ive read on the rangevoting pages makes a lot of sense to me, so Id like to help out if I can. Im on a campus, and Id like to do something that would get a large population of voters thinking about this issue. This is a GOOD idea
26: holzmeyer kristen dewick1 -at; hotmail [., com;809-2837; 6084 hester hall,
27: Stewart; Charles Bruce, Stewart; Charles Bruce charles ;at) constitutionalgov [dot- us;Sandy, Oregon, USA 97055; I have developed my own range-voting program. It is working and available for use here: http://christiancommonlaw-gov.org/index.php I would like to share my work with others of similar concern. People of sincere concern on these issues need to communicate with each other about optimal strategy for implementing these desperately-needed improvements. I am dedicated to this work. I request concerned people in this forum to contact me so that we may work together towards these ends. Charles ...
28: Lauser, Benjamin I'm a graduate student in the mathematics department at the University of Maryland, College Park. I think gerrymandering and plurality voting are obstacles to a truly representative government. Anything that reduces political gamesmanship and increases true choice for the population is a good idea.
29: Collins, Frank Fort Mill, SC, USA 29715;
30: Shreckhise, Scott
31: Unger, Stephen H.
32: Hiegel, Joseph Greenfield, WI, USA 53220;
33: bernard b carman, bernard b carman bbc /at) infinitygames (., com;asheville, nc, USA 28801; i'm an audio engineer, as well as a Macintosh consultant. i'm also a co-founder of the Libertarian Reform Caucus (LRC). over the past year or so, i've become more interested in learning about the strengths and weaknesses of various voting systems. as far as i can tell it seems RV is the way to go, unless there is no computer being used and only a simple voting round is warranted, in such case, Approval Voting would suffice. i am interested in the possibilities of advocating a test county in NC for RV. thus far, there is apparently an allowance for there to be a test of IRV in certain counties for certain races, and i'm looking into this. i hope to somehow encourage RV to also be considered. on this Range Voting site, i would like to see another example on the fron page like the one we have adopted on our LRC site. it uses the -5 to +5 scale, having 0 be neutral. while i understand the upshot is identical, i feel that using negative & positive numbers, the voter can more clearly understand how his vote affects the outcome. otherwise, using all positive numbers might give the impression that the voter is "giving" points to a candidate, unless they choose zero (0). also, it's nice to use an odd number of points on the scale, in order to create a perfect "neutral". also, i believe the simpler examples should be first. the 0-99 range is extremely excessive using such a fine degree of scale, and might serve to run off newcomers to the simplicity of RV. it seems RV would be a much easier sell to Americans across the board if the organization focused on keeping it as simple as possible. details regarding other versions of RV can be left to those who wish to "dig deeper". if RV was ever really implemented in political elections, it also seems that people would prefer a smaller scale - like a 5 or 7 point scale. most people cannot very accurately decide the difference between a +2 or +3 on the 11 point scale we've adopted in the LRC. if even a 7 point scale was adopted, it's so much easier to determine the range of approval/disapproval when there are only 3 points above and below the neutral (0). among polling several LRC members, the 5 point scale was preferred for simplicity, while i was pushing for a 7 point scale for a compromise. apparently, our webmaster was persuaded by some RV "gurus" to adopt the 10 point (or actually, 11 point) scale i presume for consistancy with this website. regardless, i'm quite happy that there is a group of people advocating RV. i wish there was an easy way to convince the IRV advocates, which seem to have more momentum thus far. it seems relatively easy to convince most folks in general when they understand that they already know about RV from the Olympics, entertainment, the school grading system, movie rating, and rating the opposite sex! 8-)
35: Cooper, Matt Computer specialist, MBA, financial analyst. Done computer work on various campaigns since 79. Also interested in gerrymandering research. Have you pursued alliances with other election groups, such as league of women voters?
37: Paul Gordon, Paul Gordon I've never been political and largely ignored politics for most of my life. We're raised from birth to laud America as this special, wonderful place where morality and benevolence and democracy rules; last summer I was in for a shock when I finally started becoming interested in history and current events and realized how different this nation is from how we are encouraged to think of it. Even before Iraq, the US has engaged in the most frivolous, inexcusable, unconscionable massacres. The disconnect from what people think their government stands for, and the long-standing reality of our foreign policy appears to be a striking and massive failure of democracy. I became to care deeply about politics and asked why this could be. After a few months of research it seemed to me that the US is suffering from three major problems, the first of which may not be obvious but I would argue is the largest and greatest threat - monetary policy, a deeply compromised mass media, and a mostly broken democratic system. Range voting seeks to directly address one of these problems, and could possibly go a long way to solving the other two. I've reached the point in my life where it isn't enough just to work, I want what I do to mean something. I am rather experienced in software architecture (see my LinkedIn profile). I dont know if there is a need for that in the CRV movement, but as Im currently on sabbatical Im free to do as I wish. I wouldnt mind at all taking my life in a new direction that has nothing to do with computers. Do you need another volunteer?
38: Sauceda Salazar Eduardo
42: Lomax, Abd ul-Rahman Hey, you know! I am really just checking to see if I already registered.
43: Devin Ray Freeman I'm a member of the Libertarian Party, and an active member of the Libertarian Reform Caucus. I'm joining to offer my services for promoting Range. I'm a skilled and experienced translator. I've ample experience in Russian and Swahili translation. I'm currently capable though rusty in these. My Korean is currently very good. I'm willing and able to put pro-Range concepts into Korean.
44: Lawrence, John C j.c.lawrence [in] cox ,dot, net;Your website was brought to my attention by someone who was perusing my website - http://www.socialchoiceandbeyond.com - and noticed that I had come up with a similar method of voting to RV. I've since put in a link to RV. My background in common with many of your members is also in computer science. My primary interest is in proving that social choice (contrary to the work of Kenneth Arrow and almost 60 years of literature)is not impossible. This would then open the door, theoretically, to an acceptance of new voting methods and economic models. The current acceptance of Arrow's Impossibility Theorem leads to an acceptance of the status quo and a defeatist attitude toward changing current political and/or economic models. I think that extended choices, both politically and economically, will result in greater freedom and democracy. The computer has a definite role in amalgamating and processing the concomitant increased volume of data. I am conceptually developing a political/economic system I call preferensism based on expressing individual preferences over a range of options which is similar to range voting. I also have a blog - http://willblogforfood.typepad.com - which deals, partiall, with some of these same issues and ideas. I look forward to participating with you to carry these ideas forward!
45: Bramscher, Paul I've got a B.S. in Computer Science, and work as a programmer at the Digital Library Development Lab, in the Science & Engineering Library at the University of Minnesota. In addition to about 10 years in IT and a strong algorithmic background, I've got a B.A. in Anthropology & History with some graduate work. I've got a strong interest in current events, political philosophy, nature writing, and camping/roadtripping. My political inclinations have evolved from the Democratic Party, an interest in Marxism while attending college, then the Green Party. I've now begun to disengage from them and, in fact, wish that we had no such thing as partisanship at all. Just open debate between the merits multiple good policy alternatives -- not manufactured personalities, umbrellas, power cartels, etc. which partisanship seems to entail, curb, scope, etc. One of my chief concerns with the Green Party here in Minnesota is that they've not even really debated the merits of alternatives to the current voting system. IRV just seems to have popped out of nowhere, with no debate possible. They are gaining some momentum here (http://www.betterballotcampaign.org/node/254), but when I emailed a polite inquiry to one of the Green Party activists involved on it (Darrell Gerber), who I've met in-person before, I got no response whatsoever. It's rather odd -- we all agree that the current system is broken, but shouldn't we at least open an honest debate on something new? I tend to see the purpose of voting as a political sampling mechanism (ideally comprehensive/complete). Range is clearly superior mathematically for reasons spelled out well by others. It mainly boils down to the capability of capturing the distance between preferences, rather than collapsing them all into equal weight (IRV's artifice -- an unsound handicap). Under IRV, some distances are magnified, whereas others are minimized (blindly, by the system). I may be more of a math nerd than most people, but I can't see how IRV has eclipsed the (superior) Range Vote in light of these significant problems.
46: Welland Matthew I believe that there are three fundamental requirements for the United States to NOT degenerate into some form of fascism or religious or military state: 1. A strategy resistant voting methodology (of which I believe Range Voting is the most promising). 2. A taxation system that is just and fosters economic development, the only system that meets that criterion to the best of my knowledge is the Henry George single tax (www.henry-george.org). 3. An education system that teaches a wide range of ideas and viewpoints while not necessarily expecting or requiring students to agree. I am building a web site which will (hopefully) illustrate the best known ways to meet those criteria by embodying them in the fabric of the site itself. The ultimate goal is that the site achieves stable self governingship and I can safely release it from my control without it degenerating into a flame-infested mess. The current (broken) incarnation is at www.kiatoa.com but a new version is under development. I will be building range voting into the new site and will point back to rangevoting.org for reference.
48: Kolar Miroslav
51: arumugam vadivel
52: plunkett, michael o. michaeloplunkett [in, hotmail ,dot; com;The right to vote is not mentioned in the constitution. It is derived from the right of association for the redress of grievances. Range voting is the best system I know of to permit voters to demonstrate true support of all parties and candidates, which promotes the right of association. I have long thought any restrictive voting system can and should be challlenged in court for the above reason. JD Florida '66
54: Ken , PA, USA 18901; I am a concerned citizen outraged by the current state of electoral politics. CRV seems to offer a realistic way to quickly and measurably improve the voting system and re-engage Americans. If range voting were ever to be adopted I think millions more Americans would go to the polls and our process would be more responsive to the people as opposed as to corporations and special interests. I also support publicly funded elections and/or blind trusts for contributions to a candidate such that they will never know where campaign contributions come from. I don't have any particular political or organizational skills, but I am willing to help promote this concept in my area.
56: Baumann Eduard Recreational geometric problems
58: Vaughn, William 585-271-7246; 64 Beekman Pl., Researcher in Neurology at Univ. of Rochester Interested in voting theory, apportionment, redistricting issues. Degree in mathematics. Independent voter. The more I learn about RV, the more I like it. Was on the IRV bandwagon several years ago until I found out more about it. At least it has stirred up some action for voting reform. Just have to figure out how to make those people realize they need to switch to something better, such as RV. After IRV, hoever, I switched to Condorcet and then Borda. Still think that Borda is the best preference-ballot system as long as "indifferent" preferences are allowed. I've noticed that most descriptions of Borda don't allow this. I have developed a system I call the "Bell-ballot" system that extends preference voting and uses a Borda-like method for finding the "best" aggregate preference(which can be "partial"). Hoping to use your bulletin board to present my ideas. Also I want to find out some of the puzzle answers :-)
59: Bottman, Nate natebottman (at) gmail -dot, com;(206) 526-5777; 6031 50th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA, USA 98115-7703;
60: Baumann Robert
61: Konecky-Chad I'm a journalist interested in the range voting movement
62: Katina
64: Buck, Will
67: Rogers I'm an attorney who reveres our Constitution, but I do dislike our current system of voting on both a local and federal level and would like to see some effort made towards amending the Constitution to avoid farces such as the 2000 election. Range voting sounds very interesting.
68: Baldwin, Gary
69: Boschert, Tyler
71: Swearingen, Worth I have no special skills, but I do have an immense frustration with the anti-democratic biases of current voting system. Right now, I'm trying to decide whether to vote conscience or lesser of evils in the Democratic primary. In the fall, my vote will mean nothing, but I'll cast it anyway.
72: Zuckerman Evan I'm a Floridian lawyer who is tired of having our state be the laughingstock of the political community and also frustrated with the resistance to fairness and equity in governmental operations.
74: Jaroski, Mark I can do computer programming in a number of languages, notably Perl and PHP, C and C++, and have experience building large websites, in a midsize to large team environment. I've been working a lot with RDF and other semantic web data handling, mining, and processing techniques. I've worked for international organizations, and have gained some insights on the nature of beurocracy, and diplomacy.
75: Neill, Jason I'm actually just joining to get accsess to the puzzles to see if my system can beat the puzzles that range voting can't.
77: Gohlke, Fred fredgohlke /at- verizon /dot] net;732-541-7029; 30 Bernath Street, Carteret, NJ, USA 07008;
79: Rudd, Jack
81: Baumann Eduard Hi Warren, I made a mistake in my last e-mail. In Puzzle #66 T4 is not best (not T5). Kind regards Ed
83: Lederer Sol
84: Dickinson, Robert Sewickley, PA, USA 15143; Interested in better participation by populace in elections and in increasing satisfaction with electoral system by increasing options and increasing election of compromise candidates and decreasing two-party domination. I can offer my skills in programming: both desktop and web systems.
87: Weller, Ian Skills: One year of college-level statistics, web design and programming, Linux (Fedora- and Red Hat-based distros), Python, PHP, MySQL, (X)HTML, CSS.
88: Gatton, Phil I am a politically independent professional six sigma black belt (read: statistics wonk). I have long been frustrated by a voting system that narrows choice and marginalizes important minorities. Every election, it seems, turns into a false dichotomy that masks what people really think. The idea of range voting needs to get more attention on the national stage. It will take a long time for the system to change, so the sooner the idea gets out there, the better.
90: Mendoza, Gabriel
91: Freeman Devin Ray
93: Richardson, Greg Ph.D. economist, old student of Social Choice theory. I find what you're doing here pretty exciting. I'm teaching a course in Game Theory, with a detour into "strategic voting" situations this semester.
97: Hirsch-Shell, Dylan I'm currently a PhD student in neuroscience at UCLA. I earned a BS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and a BS in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from MIT in 2003. I can write computer programs, read and understand mathematical arguments, and write fairly well. I came across CRV randomly while reading the comments on Digg.com about an article on Cynthia McKinney endorsing IRV. Politically speaking, I recently became a member of the State Central Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party in California in order to help secure their nomination of Ralph Nader for President and Matt Gonzalez for Vice President in 2008. I'm hoping that I might be able to convince the P&F Party to adopt range voting at their next convention (they currently use STV) and possibly leverage the party infrastructure to help initiate a drive to get the CRV's ballot initiative on a future California state ballot. As of yet, I'm not sure how feasible either of these goals are.
99: bothwell, charles I am a strong advocate for discontinuing gerrymandering. How can I help make a difference?
101: Carson, Matt I agree that a change in voting system would result in a massive improvement. I also agree that I don't know how to move forward with it. I'm not totally convinced that advocating range over approval is the best way forward, simply because it'd be harder to teach people range, and approval requires absolutely no change to existing plurality ballots (your demo has 10 buttons per candidate, most ballots I've seen have one...) But I have thought about this a lot, and I have a counting system for approval with multiple candidates that I think would work. (Would let us fix gerrymandering at the same time) And I'd love to figure out a way to make progress getting range or approval adopted.
102: Amatic, crispin i want to join becuase in want to know what are the answers of probably?
103: Amatic, crispin we are just joining
105: Anderson, Lowell Bruce
107: Bresee Alexander I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore.
108: Lawrence, T.J. Forest Grove, OR, USA 97116; Libertarian that doesn't have much time... but really would like to see some reform on this issue.
109: Sheldon, Dale I read "Gaming the Vote" and I'm convinced. Previously, I was a strong Condorcet-method advocate, but Baysian regret and the experimental conclusion that RV is more likley to elect an honest Condorcet winner than any Condorcet method have changed my mind. I've talked the ears off of all my friends already; the next step is convincing others.
110: Sarah Colburn College student interested in studying the relevant material to the Political Science Major
111: boner im a baller
112: B Andra
113: Martinez Frank Software Engineer (and all-around problem Solver) with a M.Sc. in Physics from Lehigh University. I am joining because I believe Range Voting presents a superior electoral system than the current 'First Past the Post' technique used currently in most elections throughout the United States.
115: Baumann Eduard
118: jozsef
119: jozsef
120: Kolacinski, Joseph jkolacinski -at- elmira ;dot] edu;I'm an assistant professor of mathematics at Elmira College in upstate New York. I've been interested in Voting Theory for some time; I gave a talk on alternative results for the 2004 Presidential Election at MATHFEST in 2005. I am currently doing research in this area and like the idea of connecting with other mathematicians with similar interests. I'm not sure if Range Voting is the answer; but I think I agree with you about the questions. I'm impressed by the breath of information you have available on your site. If I could change anything, I would make the tone of the site more professional in places (like where you dismiss a potential set of voters as "stupid").
122: Chung, Yong Woo jabricruds -in] hotmail -./ com;1-604-984-3163; 2401 3970 Carrigan Court, Vancovuer, , Canada v3n 4s5; As of 2009-aug-6. I'm an unemployed person who likes politics, mathematics, and voting systems. I'd like to contribute by helping with discussion and mathematics topics. I like Range voting because it's a top contender for future democratic republics.
124: Neal McBurnett, Neal McBurnett Boulder, CO, USA 80303; I put up the first approval voting site on the web, back in 1995, working with Brams. Guru in election auditing. Wrote ElectionAudits (open source), presented at conferences etc.
126: Sean Walker crazy.gold.shield ;at] gmail /dot- com;It would be nice if the site had a better layout. Also, I'm mostly joining to check the puzzle stuff.
127: Walker, Sean
129: Chrisco Craig Lee
130: Chrisco Craig Lee I am sorry, but I have no special skills for you. I am just a guy who started to attend University after High School, but ran out of money and had to take a job in a restaurant. Here is a little about myself: I am an independent sick of having to choose the lesser of 2 evils. Understandably, that is not that much of a problem any more: With the unholy alliance between the theocrats, election-companies, defense-contractors, and neocons, I just vote Democratic because the Democrats just take brides and steal public money. It is so convenient to just know which party is the lesser of the evils. ¡Thanks Republicans for making my job as a voter so easy! I finished most of my foundational coursework and requirements before I ran out of money and left University. In the restaurant, I worked every position. I current mostly cashier. I live in Petaluma, California. I am a native English-speaker. I taught myself Esperanto: ¿Ĉu vi scipovas paroli la lingvon internacian Esperanto? I speak some Spanish. I believe that the inverted punctuation the Spaniards invented is a great innovation. I use inverted punctuation. I use inverted punctuation in English and Esperantic texts which annoys everyone else. ¿What is your opinion about inverted punctuation? ;-) I join because I want to reform the system. I focused mainly on voter-verifiable papertails before because that is what kept the Republicans in power in the early and mid-2000s. Now that this battle is mostly won, it is time to improve the system in other ways, although it would be nice for a Federal mandate requiring voterverifiable papertrail because many redstaters are still screwed, and is part of why those states are still red. I thought about what could be changed and what cannot. Among things we cannot change, I would like to improve would be: * - Directly elect the President * - Eliminate termlimits but make all terms nonsequential. * - Eliminate age restrictions for offices. * - Elected Senators ever 2 years so that we have 150 Senators with 1 election for 6-year term happening ever 2 years so that each state will have 3 Senators. * - Set cloture in the Senate to 80 Senators. * - Add an House of Proportional Representation of Parties for parties with 1 hundred members. * - Add an House of Proportional Representation for Independents. * - Have elections to the Houses of Proportional Representation of Parties occur annually. * - Increase the size of the Supreme Court to 50 with 1 judge from each state. * - Require that judges for the Supreme Court to receive > 2/3rds of members of each house and of the states too (only the best of the best should be on the Supreme Court). These are all great ideas, but they require changes to the US-Constitution, so we have no hope of changing these. What can we hope to change: * - The voting system using local initiatives (politicians will never change the system which elected them). * - Redisticting. * - Church/State-Separation (If an American wants to live in a theocracy, that american should move to Saudi Arabia, where that former American can stone to death raped women for adultery — rape is sex outside of marriage which according to the Koran is adultery which according to the Koran is a stonable offense, so therefore, according to the Koran, the community should stone her to death. Religion and government do not mix.). * - Campaign-Finance: - Only registered voters — not corporations — can donate money. - Allowable annual contributions to 1kU$D annually per registered voter — no more millionaires buying politicians. Ballotaccesss primaries equal airtime * - Increase the size of the House of Representatives to 1 thousand. I investigated voting systems. None of them were any good. I created my list of requirements: * - The voting system must allow people to voter against bad choices. * - One should can cast fractional votes in addition to just negative -1, 0, and positive +1. Basically, I reinvented range-voting, but with the improvement of negative votes. Long ago, I learned that when I invent something, usually. I wonder how many people reinvent range-voting in the movement versus how many people in the movement stumble upon range-voting and decide that it is a good idea. someone already invented it. After some searching, I discovered range-voting. By the way, I believe that I understand why voting systems other than plurality generally and range-voting specifically have trouble getting traction: As Sir Francis Bacon would explain, it is a problem of “Idols of the Marketplace”. People take “One Man, one vote” too literally. That is why alternative voting systems face such problems when presented to people fed up with republcats and democans. Range-voting despite being the best system has more resistance than other voting systems because it allows less than an whole vote. Many people who understand that range-voting is best resist negative votes for the same reason. I also have an idea for ending Gerrymandering using computers for drawing the district. My idea is very different. It uses genetic algorithms. I have know idea whether it would work because I never tried it: 0 - Start with a plane slicing through the Earth in such a way as to create the smallest ellipse completely bounding the state. 1 - Choose a random point with the accuracy of arcseconds. 2 - Choose a random point 1 arcminute away from the first point rounded to the nearest arcsecond. 3 - Treat the second point as a vertex of a perfect hexagon with the first point being another vertex. 4 - Completely cover the ellipse with hexagons defined by the first 2 vertices. 5 - Label every vertex. 6 - Create a population based on the just created map with each vertex randomly shifted +/- 1 arcsecond latitude and +/- 1 arcsecond in longitude. Now we need a fitness metric: * - Every district over or under the proper number of districts is +1 points. * - The population of the most populous district divided by the least populous district is converted to points. * - Any excess in length of the portion of a district in the state over the smallest hexagon encompassing that area is converted to via how many times extra perimeter the hexagon has. * - Selection favors the lower number of points. * - All hexagons must be convex. The algorithm is simple: 0 - Randomly grab 3 individuals from the population. 1 - Determine the number of points each of these has. 2 - Kill the individual with the highest score or if a tie occurs, kill 1 of the individuals with the highest score randomly. 3 - Create 3 new individuals from the 2 parents by randomly swapping like vertices. 4 - Kill the parents. 5 - Have every vertex in the 3 new individuals randomly shift +/- 1 arcsecong in latitude and +/- 1 arcsenond in longitude. 6 - Throw the 3 new individuals back into the population. 7 - Return to step # 0. Over a few million generations, most vertices and the hexagons they define will drift off of the state; followed by the remaining hexagons changing size, shape, and orientation until they find a local optimum. The local optimum should be very good. Unfortunately, I am not sure since I never tried it. It is just one of my untested ideas. Skype
131: Levin, Ross I'm in high school; I blog at independentpoliticalreport.com, dailykos.com, lavidalocavore.org, docudharma.com, greenchange.org, and other sites; I work on the National Initiative for Democracy campaign; I've volunteered for various third party/independent political campaigns.
132: Youman youmanphotography ;at/ gmail /dot, com;I work as a professional photographer. I have worked for 3 political campaigns, with independent organizations. I also have my B.A. from Indiana State University in TV, Radio & Film and Journalism. I want not only a 3 party system, but 4 or 5! I want a true a Democracy!
133: McDonald, James jamestornaway ,in, hotmail ,dot; com;I hold a degree in Political Science and am working to obtain my MA in History. I am a registered Independent who is tired of seeing democracy get squashed because greedy, career politicians wish to re-draw district lines whenever it suits them and whenever they need to get re-elected. It honestly makes me sick to think about how bad the gerrymandering problem has become. I want to join your organization as a volunteer or whatever you need me to be because I strongly believe in what you guys are doing. Seriously, let me know what I can do to help. -James
134: Bernstein, Alan I am a graduate student in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas. I have read a small part of your website, and I like what I have seen so far. I certainly believe that many aspects of our federal government could stand significant improvement - but I can't imagine what could be simpler and more effective than making this change to our voting system. I will gladly spread the word endorse your cause.
135: asdfsadfsadf "Type password to get answer:"??? Phone number? Email? For fucks sake - if you want to help the electorate - make your site open. Here are some puzzles for whoever runs this stupid site: 1. How many people have joined this site? 2. How many have been idiotic enough to share their private stuff with you? Sidebar - the layout of this site also sucks ass. The one constant that cannot be disproved is that human race has a level of stupidity that in limitless. Proof: "We need help. You have some useful skill, or know some useful person, or have some useful information, or just want to help us in some way, with voting reform." Betcha haven't gotten much help. Gee, I can't imagine why. The road is indeed paved with good intentions - the one that leads to hell.
136: Shimony, John M. I have no skills of any consequence. But if called upon I would not mind writing a letter or performing some such outreach for such a noble cause.
138: Scheving John I would like to help people become more aware of range voting and get it actually applied in elections on any and all levels. I am joining because I am thoroughly convinced that range voting is much, much better than plurality voting and other systems as well.
140: dfgs dfggsd
141: Townsend. Burke Retired professor of philosophy with an interest in improving voting and representation methods. Reasonably literate in formal and mathematical realms, but without serious skills to offer in these areas.
144: Hamlin, Aaron
147: Koch Warren, Koch Warren I am currently an undergraduate computer scientist at the University of Victoria, and am very interested in pursuing voting systems as a research topic, or possible career. I've done preliminary research, and Range Voting looks to be the most promising. I'm interested in implementing it on a website of my own design, yet to be made - perhaps with some minor changes. I am curious if it would be possible to consolidate votes of varying ranges (e.g. a vote on the {0,1} range, along with a vote in the {0...9} range), as I'd love to be able to let newcomers to the site use a simple "like/don't like" vote, and allow more experienced judges the option of more intricate votes. I would probably weigh the experienced judges' votes more as well, but I'd like to be able to separate weight and accuracy. I'm also interested in leadership elections through content - i.e. content is rated by viewers, creators of that content are rated in-turn by how good their content is and their vote count. Highly-rated users then have higher-rated votes, and the cycle continues. Those highly rated users then gain certain responsibilities for their community. That probably has nothing to do with range voting anymore. Hmmm... At any rate, I think promoting the adoption of range voting, or any system that optimizes Bayesian Regret or similar metrics, is absolutely crucial for society to function and survive. When you need help, I'm here. Keep up this vital work!
148: harry calder hmm...
149: harry calder hmm...
150: Ronaldus van Uden, Ronaldus van Uden 0416660766; Robrechtstraat 19, Heusden, The Netherlands, NB, The Netherlands 5256GN; Ronaldus van Uden (Ronaldus Hermanus Bartholomeus) friend of prof. dr. Henricus Cornelius Maria de Swart: Intuitionistic logic in intuitionistic metamathematics Software Developer, Physicist, as first education. I am a C++ programmer of algorithmic trading software with the Quantlib, Boost, Loki and STL libraries. I have developed a substantial system for the trading of options. I can mix of C++ and Java, but I prefer C++ because it is portable. I like highly efficient and reliable code, which is readable and well understood. My favorite working environment consists of a Kornshell and an Ion2 windows manager. A very active channel is the boost channel on the freenode irc network. Coding questions can be asked there. My gmail account is configured both for email and for jabber chat traffic. http://www.home.ecademy.com/module.php?mod=guestbook&id=273605 Specialties: software architecture, system security, system fault tolerance, data persistency
151: tewari Ishwar
152: Pratt David David_Pratt /in/ hotmail (.; co -.] uk;Grantham, , UK ; I'm 18 and just finishing high school in the UK, and hope to go onto do Philosophy, Politics and Economics at a top UK university. I read William Poundstone's 'Gaming the Vote', which analysed the most common voting systems, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each. It concluded by advocating Range Voting as the optimal voting system, and I agree with this conclusion. There's a movement for voting reform in the UK right now, but most advocates for it only propose a voting system that's more proportional than Plurality (which isn't hard to find); the most popular candidates include AV and STV. I'm confused as to why Range Voting hasn't been getting any press, and the politicians, nor voting reform advocates are pushing for it to be adopted.
154: Wachtel, William BA, Journalism & Communications, 1992, Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA - concentration in Print Journalism with strong course completion in Photojournalism. Work study in college library for two and one half years (one year was assistantship). Registered Democrat to vote in primary elections, but really Independent This can change for strategic reasons. (I.e.: In 2000 primary election considered changing to Republican to vote for Buchanan to force Bush farther right to decrease his chances in the general election.) Dispatcher for expedited delivery service. Interested in and sometimes supporter of environmental, humanitarian, civil rights issues and organizations for 40 or more years. I am particularly disgusted with the current voting system in this country. It give voters primarily a choice of the lesser of two evils, with both strongly beholden to big money financial supporters. I feel there has to be some viable alternative to the two party system that allows for minority and popular issues to be heard and considered more seriously. I feel it will eventually be fatal to true democracy and representative government if special interests such as large corporations and the super wealthy are permitted to continue to control our government for their advantage. I am joining because I find your site a breath of fresh air. There is a way it seemed, to bring more electoral control to the general population. This site proves evidence of this. I would be willing to help local with election reform efforts.
156: Bond, Elizabeth
157: Doxsee Evan Excellent voting system, range. So much talk about democracy when, in the US anyhow, only two choices available with many commonalities. I could help translate the site into Spanish (esp. to reach US Hispanophone community). I also dabble in programming, if you need another warm body on that front.
158: Flatow, Daniel I have a master's degree in Mathematics. Before I had heard about this range voting system, I thought up this range voting system independently, and wanted to share it with the world. Then I found out that this system had already been thought of, and that it was called range voting, or score voting, and then found this website of others who share this view. I also have ideas to improve on this system. One is to eliminate political parties and have all of the candidates for any election face the voters only once, when the voters would employ range voting to select the winner(s). The other is to balance the score scale between the positive and negative numbers, so that, for example, a candidate could receive a score of anything between -50 and +50 from any one voter, and the default score would be 0, in the middle. If the scores are then averaged among all voters who vote for any candidate, that would take care of the quorum problem.
159: Mason, Jerrod Recovering operations researcher, among many other roles. Early fascination with the mathematics of the issue was rekindled by viewing the Teaching Company DVD by Donald Saari. (I think he is prone to making unwarranted broad conclusions.) I haven't seen enough to be able to judge CRV or make suggestions. Maybe later.
162: Sloan, Peter
165: Holz Janice
167: Wolohan, John jwolohan -in] gmail ,dot; com;Skills: Graphic Design, Web Design, Audio/Video editing, Flash Video. Party Membership: Registered Independent in New York. Job: Undergraduate Student - Major: Strategic Communications; Minor: Math. What and Why: I would like to help the election reform cause, specifically the Range Voting movement, in any way that I can.
169: Levesque Maxime I am deeply convinced of the potential that approval voting or range voting could bring, and at a ridiculous cost. I have been advocating this, but only from mouth to ear. I have told myself that I should take this to the next level, especially when I see the sorry state of democracy in my own country (Canada). I was actually writing some essays in french, when I discovered your site, and like the content very much. The only problem is that I have a CS background, and enjoy mathematics, so I'm not sure mister, every one will find it as convincing as I do ! ;-) So what I want to do is to do "marketing" for the idea... I have no experience in marketing, but I think that this is what needs to be done... The concept needs to be sold To know about me you can look at my open source project : http://squeryl.org I've been a software programmer and architect for 15 years. I'm not sure if this can help but anyways, that's what I'good at, but I'm not to bad of a writer (in French though), And I like to thing that I have a capacity to think outside the box... So lets see what we can do to replace our medieval voting system ;) (...or would it be more "bronze age ?") BTW, it's encouraging to see theoreticians like you get your hands dirty and *apply* theoretical work for good causes... Nowedays, political scientists often spend there whole carrers studying about *strategy*, it's a shame... Max
174: Mathew, Brian
175: Shapiro, Debbie H. Currently wrapping up a Masters in Public Policy, politically active for the past decade. I have been a proponent of Approval Voting as well as eliminating primaries. I understand the Approval Voting movement is continuing with this organization, so that is why I'm here. :-)
176: Catling Joe
178: Paris, Dominic R. lambda.man [in/ mac -.] com;415-640-6740; San Francisco, CA, USA 94117; Leader and diplomat by style. Registered Democrat. MA in Philosophy, with a concentration in moral and political philosophy. I would love to not only see changes in voting, but changes in government structure, ideally semi-presidentialism, proportional representation, and unicameralism. Additionally the process of government needs to change too including using different voting to find consensus policies and participatory budgeting.
179: Blair, Fred Retired, computer science, rewriting new Constitution. Multi-winner RRV is a particular interest.
180: Flanagan, Liam No special info, just wished to support you in this and try to spread awareness of fairer voting systems.
181: Marcattilio-McCracken, Ry ry.marcattilio.mccracken (in) gmail [.] com;P.h.D. student at Oklahoma State University in the History Department. Studying the history of science, medicine, and technology. I helped reform the voting method the Graduate and Professional Student Government Association uses here at OSU, and champion range voting whenever I get the chance.
182: McClung, Michael branding and marketing, with emphasis on electronic communications
183: Hayashi Stephen
184: Kelley, Cameron I am a nonprofit grant writer with experience in writing and editing a wide variety of materials, including public service announcements, case statements, editorials, etc. I am a member of both the Green Party and Democratic Socialists of America. I would be interested in helping create any sort of media materials CRV needs and/or helping raise funds. In addition to ballot access, voting reform is essential if we wish to have a functioning representative government in the USA in the future (I'm not sure if it's too late). I'd like to see a greater presence for CRV in public debate, and think an aggressive approach is needed - if CRV is in fact mounting a vigorous public awareness campaign, it must have missed Philadelphia.
185: Heitzman, David
186: Jack, Nathan
187: Julius, Patrick I am a graduate student in behavioral economics from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I remember when I first discovered range voting; in connection with one of my classes I was reading about Arrow's Impossibility Theorem and its proof, and I remember thinking, "But what if you're allowed to have ties?". I looked into it more, and sure enough, you can satisfy all the "impossible" requirements simply by using range voting. From then on, I've campaigned (in my own small way) to make range voting the only voting system anyone ever uses. For one, I require its use for elections in the chapter of the Secular Student Alliance I founded. Really, this issue strikes me as one of the most obvious in all of politics. We have a MATHEMATICAL PROOF that our voting system is the best. There. Done. There should be no further debate. It's like arguing over whether 2+2=4 or the sky is blue.
188: Florian Lengyel
189: Gabe Small
190: Burrus, Sammye S. I'm a negotiator, medicine woman, nannihe, elder, tutor, artist, architect computer drafter for others but i am also retired and disabled a bit. I didn't quite understand the input on the check marks as my disability is that i am quite 'slow' sometimes. lol. yes, i laugh at myself. I would like congress to quit passing silly bills like sopa which could interfer with our freedom of speech. someone can always misuse this. I would like congress to overturn the supreme court's verdit on corporations to be a person. I would like to range or rate the bills instead of having to call all the time and watch what they are coming up next. I have joined americanselect.org and I like OWS and contributed to them. I am an independant registared voter. As an elder, medicine person, i treat people even in europe, japan and such and give them choices... not dicate. I have also signed a petition of no more money.org as I'm pretty angry and ready for us to change in a nonviolent way.
191: Brand Joel Just found this website (via comments on motherjones.com). To be honest my first motivation in joining was to get a password to check out the answers to the puzzles, but I'm also interested in checking out more of the website and maybe getting involved. Some random skills/credentials of mine are: fluent in German, proficient in Spanish, less proficient in Mandarin Chinese Master's in environmental engineering (current profession in Beijing, China) good communicator honest interested in improving our voting system and policy making processes I also did one year of a master's at UCSD in International Relations/Pacific Studies before taking a year leave of absence and coming to Beijing. (I stayed in Beijing,among other reasons, because I found a good job and have been able to get out of debt as opposed to getting further into it.) It's relevant because I took a policy-making-process course with Matthew Shugart and absolutely loved it, so much so that I've considered going back to school focusing specifically on such issues and devoting my life to it. So, I guess I'll just see if I can be of any use to y'all (probably more use once I move back to the states), but would also love to hear from anyone that might have suggestions as to how I could get involved with this issue professionally, either by going into a specific academic program or by doing some type of internship or low-level job in some organization to get my foot in the door, learn, and develop a career in the field. I'm not affiliated with any party, but would tend vote green on most environmental/energy issues. I like that you guys have a website devoted to this and are clearly trying to make a positive difference in society. Thanks, Joel
194: Bonack, Lisa I'm creative and I'm great at research (both online and old school library work). I'm on disability right now which means I've got a lot of time to offer. A few years ago I discovered instant runoff voting (by way of the Muppets) and couldn't understand why it wasn't used more. A couple weeks ago I discovered the book Gaming the Vote and have given up on IRV in favor of range voting! I have no idea how I can help, but I want to help!
195: Sebastin Linares Assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Salamanca
197: pessin, joseph TRACYJOE_REGISTER (in- me /.; com;610-459-9081; No party affiliation ... database /programming skills ... while the voting methodology proposed sounds interesting, it is the automated non-partisan redistricting in which I am most interested ... Perhaps working with other organizations focusing on the same issue may yield fruit.
198: Jeremy Not sure what to type. I am registered as an independent and am a social liberal. Currently a programmer of survey software, but my degrees are in writing & psychology. I like the concept of instant runoff voting, which would include range voting. I am fascinated by the concept of govt reform, and would support a federal constitutional amendment to use a shortest splitline algorithm to re-district everyone. I am joining your site because you have a lot of interesting information on this site.
199: Brian Sullivan
200: Ebeling, Bastian I'm a German PhD student and a member of the German Pirate Party. We already use Approval Voting to elect our candidates internally, but one of my political goals is to establish Approval Voting for local elections in Germany. The CRV web pages have been a very helpful resource for me. I could help the CRV by giving insight into German politics and the German Pirate Party and, having lived in Italy, I'm also quite informed about politics there. If needed, I can translate documents from German or Italian into English rather quickly. Don't hesitate to write me an email if I can help in any way.
203: Minsker, Steven justr looking for an answer to a puzzle!
204: Dutton, Jim
206: Mensaert klaas klamens ;in) gmail ,dot] com;phd bioinformatics member of pirate party
207: Mensaert klaas Ghent, , Belgium 9000; I am doing my PhD in Bioinformatics. I am a member of the Belgium Pirate Party.
208: klaas mensaert I am a PhD Student in Bioinformatics. I am strongly convinced that a better voting system could solve massive problems in our world. I am also a member of the Belgium Pirate Party in which i would like to implement the range voting system.
209: Moschini Chris North Hollywood, CA, USA 91601; Want to suggest another alternative to this solution: http://rangevoting.org/BetterQuorum.html
210: Vincent, Bob bobvin ,in, pillars -dot/ net;Self-employed Linux system administrator, SQL database administrator, backend web developer, and systems programmer. Mostly self-educated, good at proofreading, technical writing, and legal research. Libertarian.
211: R Peter
212: a b
213: Fagen, Joshua
214: Warren Koch Hi! I'm working on my masters in voting systems at UVic. I've been a big fan of range voting for a while, but just noticed your puzzles section and would love to get the password so I can see some solutions. Thanks!
216: Maisie W. Barrett MaisieWBarrett -in] dayrep [dot) com;
217: McCullough, Joshua S. Software Engineer - Web development. - Database development. - Graphic design, web design, UI/UX design. I want a fair voting system in the US. Otherwise we will never get anywhere and the lives of every US citizen will continue to degrade.
221: Gustavo Defino I am a founder of ESDATA (http://esdata.info). We work towards having free and fair elections in Venezuela. I have a published paper on Statistical Science showing electoral fraud during the 2004 Venezuela recall referendum. I am registering because I am convinced that even without vote rigging (manual and electronic) and even if gerrymandering is solved, still the electoral system here needs a reform and range voting could be part of the solution. Early in 2012 the opposition made a primary election with 5 candidates: A, B, C, D & E. Almost no one liked E. People where afraid of A and B was winning the polls by a bit over A. As a result, people who really liked C and D ended up voting for B who won by a landslide. I thing the results could have been more fair with range voting. My skills are: Expert Wolfram Mathematica user and web developer (Ruby on Rails). I my not be able to help much now do to lack of time, but someday, if things finally change for the better down here, then I would have influence to push for range voting. Finally I conclude by saying that I liked very much the Schultz method but I changed my mind after reading your webpage.
222: keystrokes update your demos page i am here to find out the answers to the quiz section, not provide you with my personal information.
223:
224: Charles Mathis
225: B D scottsdale, az, USA 85255;
226: Mala Jozsef
227: Wolf Aaron I am founding a non-profit cooperative online system for funding Free/Libre/Open projects, i.e. Free Software, Open Educational Resources, Creative Commons art and music and scientific research etc. The site is snowdrift.coop We have a revolutionary system to democratically cooperative to focus funding on the most worthy projects. We will be run as a formal member-owned cooperative. There are lots of details, but I am gung-ho about range voting. I want to promote and utilize range voting. So I want to use range voting in how we run elections and other things within the cooperative! I would like guidance and any other help about how to implement the best system for our organization, and I furthermore hope that our organization can help rangevoting.org perhaps more than promotion, maybe with funding and more after we are operational.
228: Wilson, John Greetings: I recently found you through the recommendation of the RangeVote.com video. We are a start-up company 5 years in the planning with our 1st round of angel financing anticipated in the next 60-90 days. The launch of our planned project is anticipated in the 4thQ 2013. Our plan calls for replicating as closely as possible all of the political subdivisions in the country within 48 months of launch and conduct mock elections of virtual candidates in all of the political subdivisions of what we call the Virtual Constitutional Republic. We want the mock elections to be as authentic, reliable, simple and secure as possible and are totally open to introducing and training our members to a new system that, in time, could replace our current actual voting system in the USA. For the first time with all of my study of voting systems I have just become familiar with "range" and "approval" voting and I like what I am reading on both subjects as well as the videos which are helpful. We need a system that can be developed primarily for on-line Internet voting for a large number of elections in various jurisdictions and large numbers of members. I would like to make contact with the appropriate CRV person to move this conversation further. I look forward to hearing from someone regarding this project to determine the potential for moving forward quickly to join your efforts and help, if our help is required, with the development and integration of the software required to implement . My cell number is in the information above. I am available from 6AM to 11PM CST most days.. Following is a quick 60 second description of our plan. 60 second Explanation of MaxForce America "Let me tell you about MaxForce as briefly as possible: MaxForce is a group of patriots who are gathering momentum from individuals just like you and your network of friends, determined to turn this country around using three creative approaches at once: (1) War Rooms, (across the country, by voting precinct), where we will plan strategies and tactics, debate issues, and find candidates; (2) the Virtual Constitutional Republic, where we will elect a "shadow government" of watchdog citizens who will either get the attention of incumbents, or work to replace them; and (3) a combined educational and game program called MindQuark where those who study will earn points which will be redeemable for rankings, merchandise, scholarships, and even cash prizes. If you want to play, America can use some ReFounding Fathers right now, and you and your ten friends can lay the foundations for the future of freedom and liberty." Thanks for your courtesies, John
229: Barth Artur
230: Maliga, Sandy
232: Mala Jozsef
233: Goldman, Brian I am a computer science PhD student, and I am very interested in voting methods and their impact on politics. I believe the best course for improving government is to change how we elect officials, and that involves both the voting system and campaign finance. I think the most manageable way to effect a change is to convince a state governments to modify how it does districting and to implement better support of third party candidates. I'm strongly liberal, and I've been angry about politics for a long time. I am interested in doing more than just being angry. Unfortunately I have no idea where to start. My most useful relevant skills are likely programming and public speaking.
235: baldwin-mccurdy A young, intelligent activist.
236: Eggum Bruce bruce.eggum /in) gmail (./ com;Gresham, WI, USA 54128/8979;
237: Sebastin Linares slinares [in; usal ,dot) es;
238: Martin Coronado
239: Richter Adam
241: Young, Thomas scipantheist -in/ yahoo ;.; com;Renton, WA, USA 98059; I've been interested for a long time in fixing America's broken election system. I'm a software engineer by trade but do mostly QA work. I would love to do something locally to try and convince people that democracy in this country needs some serious repair.
242: Justin Heatley-Hart
243: Gibbs, Joshua "Your skills": I am working on becoming a sci-fi writer. If I brushed up a bit I'd make a decent artist (esp. w/ colored pencils). "special info": I could probably get you the Evangelical vote in my tri-county area for range voting or any other non-partisian reform if the issue ever goes to the ballots. "party membership": I will be joining the Libertarian Party shortly. "job": Part-time Property Manager (I work for my parents. They rent out houses). I'm working on getting my driver's license, after which I plan on getting a second part-time job delivering pizza. At least until I get my first book published. "background": I've been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. I got kicked out of the public school system for asking too many questions and not accepting falsehoods. What the schools were then, society is now. I would vigorously support any well thought-out proposal for school reform, wether public, home, or private. "what you want to do": Reform our political culture's foundation from power politics to natural rights theory. "why you are joining": Because I love freedom. "what changes you wish we'd do": Nothing at all. "what you like most about us": That you want to make life better for everyone, and not just yourselves. "etc": I found out about you through holisticpolitics.org. That site is great. "whatever you feel we need to know about you" I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I advocate privatizing marriage and defunding abortion clinics. Those are the only fair solutions to our "culture war".
244: MacGregor Thomas I was in the Army I used to be certified as a EMT I am currently working on being a EMT again(Dec 2012) I am becoming a CERT member I've worked security I've worked customer services I'm a College student
245: Kretschmer, Bonnie L. bkretsch ;at- frontier -dot) com;Oxford, OH, USA 45056; I love that you have a solution! One that was well thought out, well researched and will work. I want to help you gain endorsers - to ask my congressmen, famous people I love and everyone I know to endorse you (already posted a link on Facebook). I'd love to see you have a more professional-looking website with clean graphics (and maybe a logo). I think it would make you look more "real" and respectable. If you want, I know several very good graphic designers. I cannot promise they will help you, but I can ask (or ask them for a recommendation of someone talented who might). I'm a 43-year-old democrat and single mother from Ohio, who works as an office manager for a land trust. I've been a lighting designer, drafter, singing server and many other things. My degrees are: Theatre (with minors in Math and Communications) and Civil Engineering Technology. Congress is broken and I want to help fix it.
247: Wynne Nyah
248: Wynne Nyah
249: Clair, Aaron
250: Megan Reif My research seeks to explain variation in election violence, reform, and democratization. my area expertise is broadly comparative, but emphasizes Algeria, Pakistan, the Middle East/North Africa (MENA), and Muslim world more generally. I am a Project Manager for MENA and Election Violence and Fraud with the Varieties of Democracy Project and a Research Fellow with the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg. Reif worked with the Intl Fdn. for Election Systems, Pakistan's Free & Fair Election Network, the Asia Foundation, and the Carter Center. She taught Middle East and Muslim world politics, democracy, election integrity, survey methods, quantitative analysis, and research design at the University of Colorado Denver (faculty) and/or the University of Michigan (graduate student). Reif is motivated by a desire to support conditions for internally-driven democratization through (1) analysis and dissemination of qualitative and quantitative data that better enables new democracies to learn from the (messy) political evolution of what are now considered "consolidated" or "advanced" democracies; (2) theoretically-driven findings and insights that are also policy-relevant; (3) collaboration with international and local social scientists and practitioners to leverage combined area and methodological knowledge; (4) capacity-building for research and programming to promote peaceful democratization while diminishing need for foreign or external expertise; (5) development of cross-cultural and international understanding with research that tests assumptions of national or regional exceptionalism with empirical rigor, utilizing mixed methods that include historically-informed event data analysis, Geographic Information Systems (GIS)/mapping, spatial analysis, sequence analysis, survey methods, archival research, text analysis, and other techniques.
251: Marcelino Political Scientist knowledgeable of quantitative methods.
252: Latimer, Brian I'm a web developer. I'd like to learn more about voting and to what extent various things about voting can be proven and the math and techniques to make such proofs. I have been reading your pages for years and based on my current understanding, I'd like to see range voting in place for single seat offices. I have been wondering about the implications of proxy voting for seats in a body like the legislature and what the best ways to keep such a thing secure might be. I recently read about court precedent where election laws have been overturned when one voter's vote "weighs" more than another voter's and I'd like to find out if the wording in the court decisions is such that it can be proven that congressional districts serve to disenfranchise voters and that all voters would be better off with proxy voting, range voting, or reweighted range voting. even 1 vote per person with all candidates for all seats on the same ballot seems like it would have better results, though I haven't done the math. In any case, if the case law exists that has overturned previous election laws, can that case law, along with appropriate proofs meeting the criteria described in the case law be used to overturn plurality voting and get us using anything else? I'd like to learn more and bring suit against the government if I, or other plaintiffs, can find the case law and proofs.
253: Beltran, Kyle I got my BS in Math and Economics with a minor in philosophy and have been working in statistical analysis for a marketing consulting firm for a year or so. I'm a myers briggs personality type: INTP who can't stop seeing the world as a single complex system. People organize themselves into businesses and governments to achieve certain goals. If the way those organizations make decisions is less than ideal, that limits our ability to achieve those goals (and more importantly, could distract us from setting the 'right' goals). I learned about rangevoting a few months ago and have been fascinated by its potential to change the world by simply improving our ability to make organizational decisions.
254: Jacquemotte, Alan I'm starting a new political party and joining so l can get the password for the puzzle answers.
255: Jacquemotte, Alan I'm starting a new political party and joining so l can get the password for the puzzle answers.
256: Hall, Jonathan Skills: Public speaking, Unix, C++, Theater lighting, Acting, directing. GUI design. Libertarian Third term elected Director local water district. 33,000 citizens.
258: Emerson Guy Mathematician and linguist
263: McGhee Robin Hi there, I'm a British political staffer who's worked on a number of campaigns with the Liberal Democrat party (the minor party in the UK's coalition government who campaign- almost completely unsuccessfully!- for electoral reform). If there's anything you think I can help with, let me know. Robin McGhee
264: Balanquit Romeo
265: balanquit
266: balanquit
267: Kieron George IT skills
271: warshaver, andrew drew ;at; warshaver (dot; com;I am a Technologist just entering politics. Currently we are promoting the Technology Party, Liquid Democracy, Loomio, Range Voting, and the New Ballot Initiative in the USA.
273: Zachery Hall
278: Arnold Benjamin
280: Fargus, Timothy
282: John Doe notmyemail ;in; yahoo [dot; com;Just entering stuff to get the silly password for your puzzles. Not really a joiner, sorry.
284: John Doe notmyemail [at) yahoo (dot- com;Just entering stuff to get the silly password for your puzzles. Not really a joiner, sorry.
287: spm miller
289: Burke Brendan
290: Hunt, Micheal I am currently affiliated with the Republican party, though I rarely give a party line vote. My personal views tend more towards the Libertarian party, but I have not been affiliated with them directly, since they do not seem viable in national elections. I'm joining this organization, as well as one other (http://electology.org/) in order to try to work for some changes in election processes to see a greater range of ideas being discussed, and to allow for smaller parties to see gains over time that are not likely with the current voting methods.
292: Joshua Hufford
294: Cohensius Gal
295:
296: Licata, Christopher Louis III
298: Wen Xuefeng I'm specialized in logic and teaching a course on social choice theory. I'd like to make the students know better voting rules and find this website very helpful.
300: Trimble, Scott
301: Bedz, Alexander (Aleksy) Proficient with: MS Word, PP, Excel, SPSS, Unigraphics Party: Green Job: MPA Student at Wayne State University Why join: I think we need to improve the political system and work to make it more democratic. Our nation also suffers from an incredible lack of political diversity, and hopefully this can be altered by changing the voting system.
302: Gerber Robert IT services small business owner, left libertarian, data lover. legally minded, specific, analytical, procrastinator, anxiety. hardware oriented, not a programmer. member of nebraska democratic party, 2016-2018 LD3 alternate to the NDP state central committee i want more information, and i want to both push forward ranked choice voting systems (i might be using a term wrong, i want more choice in voting that allows for greater representation and less bayesian regret). I'm method agnostic at this time. I want to know as much as possible about this field to push forward measures which seek to implement good solutions with much more favorable outcomes, as opposed to incremental, slight improvements, or possibly inferior systems. I like your focus on data.
303: HAYNES, KRISTINE I am interested in being involved in helping to change America's voting system to Alternative voting; to reform the system and improve the election system to be transparent, accountable, and convenient for all voters. I have very good writing skills, computer skills, communication and interpersonal skills and organizational skills.
304: Foster, Kevin This site is pretty dated. Any progress in local politics in the USA?
306: Cooper, Daniel I asked to join the forum but apparently the wrong e-mail account was automatically put in the request. I would like to join the forum as danc19fr@yahoo.com. Skills: Mathematics, common sense, scientific method Party membership: Democrat (so I am not totally disenfranchised, but prefer no party) Background: Engineering, Physics Why joining: I want America to live up to its promise as a beacon to the world. What change: I would like to see range voting put in practice, anywhere, anyhow, as a start.
307: James Carvin I am seeking to create a new political party, the Restoration Party and currently serving as figurehead, running for POTUS, while writing the Manifesto. I plan to make support for range voting and other reforms that restore representation to voters the core reason for being of the Restoration Party. This will be the fifth of five major initial reform initiatives - The Better Voting Systems Act. It is my belief that in order to institute the Constitutional reforms necessary for changes like Range Voting, a broad organization with a significant and continuous presence in every state will be required.
308: Dabrowski, Andrew math instructor Socialist I prefer Approval voting
309: Joshua Spaulding I'm probably not super useful but I'm alright with some math and persistent in my interests. I do live in WA state and would be interested in a ballot initiative to turn our our top2 blanket primary into a score or approval vote vote primary. Thanks, Josh
310: Daniel Riley djr.danielriley -in; gmail (dot/ com;Cary, IL, USA 60013; I'm a high school student in AP Research. In this brand new AP class, we write one research paper throughout the whole year and submit it for an AP grade. I'm planning on writing my paper about range voting, specifically on if range voting unavoidably introduces a new strategic element: that most people will tend towards the extremes (i.e. 0-1 or 9-10 on a 10-point scale) and not an "ideal" bell curve, but I also may write it about discovering if 100-point scales or even higher scales have votes centralized around the nearest 10 or 25, for example, reducing their purpose. I am looking for your input on both topics, but most of all, if there is some unknown aspect to range voting that needs research, I'd try to form a research topic on it. I believe that replacing our current system is crucial, and will do what I can to research the benefits and possible drawbacks of any system that could replace it so the campaign to replace plurality voting is as strong as it can be.
311: Kearns, Spenser Hello! The whole debate over which voting system would be most optimal for our country intrigues me. After a lot of research, I decided to throw my weight behind Range Voting. I looked at both rangevoting.org and fairvote.org's criticisms of each other's advocated system, and rangevoting.org seemed to do a much better job of arguing their case. My skills: I'm a teacher. Not as a profession, but as a person. While I don't currently teach, I have taught chess to elementary schoolers, as well as saxophone to high schoolers. I feel as though I could best serve this organization through face to face interaction with local politicians and activists, spreading the word on our beloved system. I have already begun doing this, and every single candidate I've spoken to has admitted they don't really have an opinion and need to do more research. I feel as though this is something people who fall anywhere on the political spectrum can easily get behind with proper education. I personally got into politics, like most millennials, through Bernie Sanders. I don't like either major party. It is incredibly frustrating to be voting in a system where I am forced to be a fool or a liar. That is why I'm so interested in range voting. My questions for you: Do you have any pamphlets that I could distribute? How else do you think I could be of use to you? I'd be more than happy to organize events and take the lead in my city's push for Range Voting. Changes I think you could make: The website isn't the prettiest I've seen. I get that it this is a math issue and most people that are interested aren't going to care, but I think adding at least a nice logo would help. It also would have been extremely helpful if you had a page for every state, with an explanation for how people in that specific state can help move things forward. Thank you all for what you do, Spenser
312: Mckennie, Robbie Napier, , New Zealand 4110; Kiwi engineering student, toolmaking enthusiast, election nerd
314: Doherty Connor cnnr_dhrty /in) live -.] com;I've been a long time CRV supporter. Lately, though, I'm realizing just how much improvement the resources pertaining to this subject could use. The CRV website seems to be the only source around, and frankly, I think it's rather plain and low-tech. I'm a web designer/developer myself, and I'd really be interested in improving that. In fact, my first idea is to turn the site into a wiki. It may seem daunting, but I've done it before, and your layout and attitude is perfect for it. You take page edits by email anyway, and almost all of your content is plain text. Furthermore, you have thousands of pages on the domain, you said, but you would never guess it because they're kind of tucked away in various pages. Converting this content to a wiki, running on MediaWiki, would be easy and would solve all that. Also, I see at (http://rangevoting.org/WaysToHelp.html) that you would like improvements to the donation infrastructure, etcetera. I think this could really be helped with an implementation of CiviCRM! It's perfect for this kind of organization.
316: Lowell, Christopher lowellca ;at] gmail /./ com;Job: Private mathematics tutor Education: B.S. in Mathematics, Stony Brook University, 2014 Future Education: M.A. in Mathematics Teaching Why I'm here: Using mathematics to make the world better is awesome and worthwhile. How I want to help: Writing, advocacy, lectures, voter education, getting RV implemented in smaller elections
317: Vieira, Lucas I have experience as a web developer, graphic design, writing interactive simulations and visualizations and as an educational illustrator and animator. (my Wikipedia gallery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:LucasVB/Gallery). I'm not affiliated with any party, as I don't agree with most of the way these things are handled. One of the reasons I really support range voting is exactly because it will open space for a better and more honest representation, which is sorely needed everywhere in the world. I'm willing to help with what I can. I've been a staunch advocate of range voting for the past few years, but I want to do more (especially given Trump's win and the current political climate in Brazil). One of the typical (but silly) criticisms I keep hearing is that people seem to resist browsing the current rangevoting.org website due to it's simplistic look and "too much information" presentation. I think I could help in renewing the look and presentation of the website in a way to make it more appealing and convincing. In particular, I'm thinking some interactive, real-time simulations and visualizations of voting systems could be a really great tool to have, and I definitely have a lot of ideas on how to approach that subject. Anyway, as time allows, you can count on me. Cheers!
319: 3w4
320: Hod Tamuz
322: Farkas-Dyck Matthew, Farkas-Dyck Matthew m.farkasdyck ,at] gmail -., com;, CA, USA 94xxx; I'm a Canadian working in the USA as a software engineer. Let me know if you need some code written. Plurality and IRV must die.
323: Shlyakhter Ilya I'm good at getting letters-to-the-editor into newspapers: http://to-the-editor.livejournal.com Party: Democratic.
324: Erica Gorochow I do comms. I'd like to make more videos that help spread your message>
325: Varga Alexander xxandervargad ;at- yahoo [.] com;I am a 17 year old student and have no official studies relating to politics. I have an extracurricular passion for advanced math and chemistry, something that will probably determine the "career-oriented" part of my future. In my free time, I research topics that I find interesting. I have actually learned almost everything that I know about chemistry from my own research, and won first place in a regional Chemistry Olympiad Competition. I wouldn't have mentioned this achievement if I had any other way to demonstrate credibility, such as a college education or a job. For 5 years, I have been attempting to model a Utopia (I've made progress) and I would be willing to rant about things that I have learned and figured out. I am politically independent, but I was a die-hard Bernie Sanders supporter in the 2016 US presidential election due to his genuine character, honesty, and belief that the government should act in the interests of the people. I simply want to help this organization be successful, as it seems to be a centralized source for all things related to voting: the problems, the science, and the solutions. I sense a strong theme that the only way to make a morally sound government is to have a logical and mathematical base, that minimizes strategic voting,disproportional representations, and other problems that I either haven't mentioned or am not aware of. I am not only young but also new to this specific organization. Thus I am eager to prove myself and see what options I have, as well as "spread the word" about the solutions offered by Range voting and the like.
327: Andrade, Alex Anti corporate progressive mindset (progressive era... think pre WWI). University graduate and working for a university as a program manager. Studied business and MIS... I love working with Excel!
328: Braley, Bruce I'm a retired high school math teacher for whatever that may be worth. The Maricopa County Presidential Preference Election on March 22, 2016 was my awakening to the need to reform many, if not most, aspects of our elections process. I am active in Take Back Elections--I'm on their Casting and Counting Our Votes on Election Day working group, Maricopa County Green Party (I do not agree with their Ranked Choice Voting platform plank), and League of Women Voters (I'm glad that at least so far, the national organization has not decided to advocate for RCV, although they do seem to think it's a great idea preferable to other alternatives. I am studying whatever I can find on vote counting methods in an effort to become able to argue intelligently in favor of whatever method is best to help achieve a fair, unified, transparent, verifiable election system. I was an early adopter of range voting as my personal preference, and that position has only become more strongly held as I've learned more. I'm not sure how I can contribute yet, but I think my ability to do so will only increase as I work toward the goal stated above. Thank you so much for this extensive and easily digestible resource!
329: Clifton, Andrew
330: Korth, Nathan Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA ; Skills: programming, web, a bit of graphic design. I favor approval voting initiatives over range voting because of how easy it would be to explain to the public. I would be interested in supporting any approval voting, range voting, or anti-gerrymandering initiative, particularly one originating in Michigan.
331: Ross S. Heckmann I am currently the Secretary of the American Solidarity Party of California. Range voting is in accordance with the platform of the American Solidarity Party. I hope to deepen my understanding of range voting and expect that in due course I will ultimately be able to become an effective advocate for it.
332: Buckley, Tim I'm a professional web developer, and I would like to help volunteer to help with the website itself. I can help with: - web design - server upkeep - interactives and data visualizations - etc I would also like to encourage open-sourcing the website code which can encourage other people offering improvements. My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothypbuckley/ My Github: https://github.com/TimBuckley
333: Annie lewis Division I, located in Guangzhou City Park Road West, No. 222, is a professional production and sale of real hair products business, products are sold around the world. We have more than 8 years of production and sales experience, in the field of beauty industry has a good reputation. We implement a strict and perfect quality control system, all products must be thoroughly tested before shipment to ensure that each product can meet customer quality requirements. Our products have won praise from customers around the world.
335: Lauer Stephen I'm a PhD student in biostatistics. I'm an able communicator and statistician. I have raised the issue of voting reform to the Amherst Charter Commission, where I go to school (at UMass Amherst). If the charter passes (vote coming in March), then there will be a committee formed to decide on a new voting structure. They are leaning towards rank choice voting, but would like to be fully prepared to pitch range voting as a superior alternative.
336: Dtex Darkus
337: Khera Smriti
338: Heckmann Ross, Heckmann Ross RossS.Heckmann ;in/ gmail [.) com;626-256-4664; 1214 Valencia Way, Arcadia, CA, USA 91006; I have become an official in a third party and need to learn a lot more about other possible voting systems. Can't at this time do very much because I do not yet know very much.
339: Douglas R Hess dougrhess ;in) gmail -.- com;2022776400; 1433 Elm Street, Grinnell, IA, United States 50112;
340: Paladin, John Attorney, progressive Democrat. I would like to receive information about this subject. I support National Popular Vote dot com.
341: Sara Wolf I've been working on STAR Voting, Score-Then-Automatic-Runoff, (aka Score Runoff) for the last year and now we're running twin ballot measures to pass this in Oregon's two biggest population centers. We need you're help and support! Has a score method ever made it this far in recent history??? I don't know, but this is huge! Can you include STAR Voting on your site and give it your analysis? STAR Voting (the revised and updated version with a 0-5 scale and new memorable name) has won over Equal Vote and also RCV OR. We're building a coalition. Don't be left out! FairVote didn't write me back. Will you? You have a lot of great articles with great info on this site. A lot of it isn't very accessible to average humans, and the presentation could use a revamp, but you are doing extremely valuable work. I link and reference your stuff regularly. Maybe now's the time to take this page off the back burner and take it up a notch! What do you need to be able to
343: Guglielmo
345: Britton Kerin I love programming and could possibly help out that way. I'm interesting in talking with local politicians about range voting as well.
346: Kroeger, Gorm Hello, I just became a US citizen today (I'm also a citizen of Germany). I'm not a member of any party, but am an ACLU member. I've been doing Quality Assurance as a contractor for a big IT company for several years and am studying Data Analysis. I am joining because I want the US election system to improve. I think what needs to happen with this site is that it needs to become a lot more readable and user friendly (this seems to be common knowledge). Also, the basics of range voting need to be stated a lot more clearly and briefly, preferably also in video form (compare to cgp grey's video about problems with first past the post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo) I'd also be willing to donate money if this was a non-profit, so forming a non-profit seems quite essential to me. I'm wondering if I could move/copy much of the content of this site to a wiki format, which I think would be a low cost, but significant upgrade in web design. Maybe making a good youtube video about range voting would also be a possibility for me, although both of these things would take quite some time. I'm somewhat suprised that I could not find a good video about range voting so far.
347: Frank Sarah sarah.christin.111 ;in] gmail /.; com;I studied mathematics and philosophy in Germany and am interested in programming, politics, and lots more. I believe in making a change in this world. In my Masters I have been looking into Rational Choice Theory, providing a method of accounting for immaterial values, like beliefs, in the utility function. Right now I am writing about self-organizing systems, why they yield optimal results and what a proper platform could look like. One example is a political system, where people vote for specific ideas instead of representatives. They should say how important something is to them and how satisfied they are with how it is now, while always being able to change their opinion. The ideas with the highest accumulated difference will then continuously be realized. These votes are supposed to be Range Votes. I did not realize which implications this had, before trying to research how this could bypass Arrows Theorem and stumbling upon your page (thanks to Wikipedia). This is so great!! I have a good friend who already came up with a pretty good model, but it is hard to get the point across to people and we are still working on the prototype... I really hope some people are still active, because I would love to talk about ideas and work on building a working voting system!
348: sleator daniel warren's helper
349: Chris Software Engineer Theatrical Director Politics: Eh, weird mix of Libertarian and Democrat/Green Party. Joining b/c I wholly stand behind the philosophy articulated here. This website simply, elegantly, and clearly describes what range voting is and how it makes so much more sense than any other ranked or exclusive form of voting. I have been rattled by the 2018 election - the results were entirely based on the style of voting we have implemented, based on fear and "lesser of two evils". But it wasn't just the results, it was also the type of conversations that were spurred on; the "oh don't vote for Bernie/Jill Stein/Gary Johnson b/c then its a vote for the opponents" mentality was toxic, and not how we should be deciding our top leaders. I think there is a great public good to be brought about by range voting - we change the way we vote, we'll change the way we think and talk to each other.
350: Huff, Miles B. Micronationalist (Theodia), software developer, linguist, Linux guru, polyglot, inventor, conlanger, and all-around IT guy. Radical Centrist. Registered Independent in the US. This website is a treasure trove of information. I have followed it for years, and want to see it continue into the future.
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