[Noisebridge-board] Proposed election process

[Andy Isaacson]

My research indicates that the best known election method is the Schulze
method: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulze_method

This is a Condorcet method, and there is a straightforward Python
implementation written by our own Ka-Ping Yee linked here:
http://zestyping.livejournal.com/111588.html
Ping also explains some of the issues in an earlier post:
http://zestyping.livejournal.com/102718.html

SHA1(election.py) = bce15d106bf2a1feb468627c545b46e0faf7ad2e
MD5(election.py) = 6ef44d804110c87abdf8525cc51bcb91
len(election.py) = 7348

I propose the following timeline:

Nominations to open immediately
Nominations close on November 9
Absentee ballots accepted from November 10
Election day is November 17

The standard method of voting shall be by secret paper ballot on
Election Day; ballots shall be issued to members in good standing on
Election Day.  The voter rolls shall be prepared by November 10 and
available for review at that evening's meeting and up until election
day.

Absentee ballots shall be clearly marked as ballots on the envelope, and
either
1. hand-delivered to the secretary or
2. sent by mail to our PMB postmarked before election day

A valid ballot consists of a list of candidate names and associated
rankings; rankings are integers in the range [1,5].  Rankings can
repeat, but a voter may not vote for more than 5 candidates.  A ballot
which contains more than 5 preferences is spoiled.

I do not believe we currently have any active members identified solely
by digital signature.  (What a shame!)  However we do have one anonymous
member AFAIK, who may wish to become so identified for voting purposes.
If we want to support electronic voting we can publish a GPG key to
which signed ballots can be encrypted.  However I have no reasonable way
to implement secret ballots in such a system.

-andy