Letters - 16 August 2013
From consensus voting to summer thoughts
Consensus voting
Most people, like Philip Pestelman (2 August), assume that any discussion of voting procedures must be about elections, but ‘Consensus voting’ (14 June) was primarily about decision-making.
Herein lies the difference. Compromise in elections – establishing a win-win formula – is best achieved with preference voting in a proportional system; in decision-making, however, there usually has to be only one decision. Accordingly, as the original article suggested, a win-win formula lies in identifying that option which receives the highest average preference score.
For decision-making, then, the Modified Borda Count (MBC) is recommended; it is, after all, non-majoritarian. In elections, however, where proportionality is also important, a procedure called the Quota Borda System (QBS) is advisable; as its name implies, it relies on both quotas of preferences and points totals.
May I also add that the MBC is similar, in a way, to Philip Pestelman’s favoured electoral procedure, the Alternative Vote (AV). In both, voters may cast more than one preference. One vote, however, is still one vote, regardless of how many points (MBC or QBS) or preferences (AV) are cast. The main difference is that, in the former, the voter is encouraged to cast more than just a first preference and, in so doing, to recognise the aspirations of others. In contrast, in Northern Ireland, the version of AV we use in all but Westminster elections allows for but does not necessarily encourage cross-party, let alone cross-community, voting.
Peter Emerson The de Borda Institute, Belfast
Vegan pie
I don’t think my ‘vegan pie’ (26 July and 9 August) can support the weight of symbolism attributed to it. I often make the pie (a Cranks’ recipe) for a shared meal because it is enjoyed by vegetarians, vegans and omnivores alike. We also occasionally enjoy Lincolnshire sausages, made from locally raised Old Spot pigs, which we buy at a farm shop nearby.
Quakerism can accommodate people with a variety of points of view as we ‘bear and forbear’ and are tender with each other.
Judith Gelsthorpe
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