THE INDEPENDENT VOTING SYSTEM

The Independent Voting System is the only system of taking a vote that has all of the following desirable properties:

1. Every voter has exactly the same amount of power, regardless of his preferences.
2. Voters are not split by multiple candidates with similar platforms.
3. Voters who do not like any of the candidates are not disenfranchised.
4. Voters who like more than one candidate are not disenfranchised.
5. The system has no bias for or against any candidate.
6. The number of candidates running does not matter.
7. A candidate cannot affect the outcome of the election by entering or leaving the race, unless he wins the election when in the race.
8. Because of this, no signatures or petitions are necessary to get on the ballot.
9. Because candidates can't hurt each other by running, no primary election is necessary.
10. No runoff election is necessary, unless a tie occurs or no candidate gets a positive score.
11. No recounts.
12. Negative campaigning will end, because voting against one candidate doesn't automatically vote for another.
13. There is no such thing as an overvote or an undervote.
14. Voters can always vote their consciences.
15. Voters do not have to abandon their favorite candidates to prevent their worst choices from being elected.
16. The system can be set to disallow a candidate with more Abstain votes than the sum of Yes and No votes to prevent a surprise win from a minor candidate. This MINOR CANDIDATE FEATURE must be enabled or disabled by legislation.
17. The Minor Candidate Feature is not used for Proportional and Numerical Values elections.
18. The system can also be used for fair at-large elections (although at-large itself is not fair).
19. The system can also be used for fair referendum elections.
20. The system can be used in a fair form of electoral voting (see below).
21. The system can be used in a fair form of proportional representation voting (see below).
22. The system can be used in a fair form of choosing numeric values (see below).
23. The system can have a way to eliminate nonlegislative offices built into it.
24. Independent Voting works equally well on any type of ballot: paper, machine, computer, or mark-sense.
25. Congress uses it for its internal votes (sort of).
26. Independent Voting always chooses the choice that pleases the most voters.
27. Independent Voting can have security measures added to prevent fraud.
28. The Independent Voting System refutes Arrow's Theorem and the Gibbard-Satterthwait Theorem.
    • Arrow's Theorem: "No voting system satisfies all fairness criteria.

      The Independent Voting System does satisfy all reasonable fairness criteria because it does not use ranking.

    • The Gibbard-Satterthwait Theorem: "No voting system is immune to strategic (insincere) voting.

      Strategic voting is useless with Independent Voting because each choice is voted on independently.

    • Note that the two above theorems assume that a ranking system is the most fair system. But ranking systems are also unfair. Ranking is known to be a poor way to decide anything.

The Plurality, "first past the post", or "Vote for only one", election system currently in use in most places has NONE of the desirable properties listed above.

Play with the various voting systems

Plurality -- vs -- Independent

SECURE VERSIONS ADD STEPS SHOWN IN THIS COLOR.

HOW IT WORKS

THE REGULAR INDEPENDENT VOTING ELECTION

The Independent Voting System works in the following manner:

1. Voter preliminaries:
   • Anyone who will be legally eligible to vote on Election Day must register at least one month before each election.
   • The election board must photograph the voter.
   • The election board checks the ID, photo, and residence of each voter.
   • The election board mails the required photo voter card to each validly registered voter using registered mail.
   • The correct polling place, the election date, and the photo must be on the voter card.
   • The voter must bring the registration card to the polling place.
   • Election officials must check the voter card photo against the voter's face.
   • The card must be punched by election officials when the voter votes.
   • No election card that is already punched can be used again in a general election.
   • No election card that is not punched for the main election and all previous runoffs can be used in a runoff.
   • More punch places are provided for each runoff. Each runoff election has another punch position.
2. Ballot preliminaries:
   • Legislation must be in place to determine if the Minor Candidate Feature is enabled or disabled.
   • Anyone who will be legally eligible to hold the office on the day the term of office begins can enter the race.
   • There shall be no primary election.
   • Anyone with interest can add a referendum, or add a choice to an existing referendum.
   • The filing fee for a candidacy or referendum shall be less than a day's minimum wage.
   • The filing deadline shall be one month before the election.
   • There shall never be a requirement to gather a petition of signatures to get something on the ballot.
3. The Ballot
   • Each ballot must have the precinct name and polling site location printed on it.
   • Each candidate or referendum Choice has one ballot position.
   • All office candidate positions must have a write-in entry. All write-in votes count.
   • All ballot positions for any one office or referendum shall be grouped together on the ballot.
   • All ballots shall be machine scanable paper ballots.
   • Each ballot position has selectable entries for both YES and NO.
   • If a voter makes no selection in a ballot position, or selects both YES and NO (on a paper ballot or a two-button machine), an ABSTAIN vote is recorded.
   • ABSTAIN is the default vote if the voter does nothing for that Choice.
   • There must be absolutely NO interlocking between one ballot position and another.
   • No combination of voting selections is disallowed.
   • Since more than one candidate from each party can run, there shall be no straight-party selection.
   • The voter is allowed to make exactly the choices he wants.
4. The Absentee Ballot
   • Each ballot is exactly the same as the ballots used at the polling places.
   • If possible, the absentee voter can go to the election office early and vote in person.
   • If the voter is out of the area (temporary work or military assignment), then a mailed absentee ballot must be used. The procedure for mail-in ballots follows:
     1. The voter makes a request for an absentee ballot by return-receipt registered mail.
     2. The election board sends a ballot by return-receipt registered mail.
     3. The voter marks the ballot and returns it by return-receipt registered mail.
     4. The post office must not charge voters for registered mail for ballots.
     5. If any registered mail or return receipt is not delivered, an investigation happens.
     6. Absentee ballots must be received by poll closing time on election day.
5. The tally:
   • Each candidate or referendum Choice is hereafter referred to as a "Choice".
   • The ballot sheets are to be counted and serially numbered just before the tally.
   • All ballots are to be tallied independently by representatives of each party with a candidate on the ballot.
   • Each Choice is scored independently with the following procedure:
     1. The YES votes for the Choice are counted. A voting or tally machine can keep a running total.
     2. The NO votes for the Choice are counted. A voting or tally machine can keep a running total.
     3. The ABSTAIN votes for the Choice are counted. A voting or tally machine can keep a running total.
     4. If the Minor Candidate feature is enabled, sum the Yes and NO votes and then subtract the Abstain votes. If the result is negative, this candidate cannot be elected.
     5. The number of NO votes is subtracted from the number of YES votes using integer arithmetic, producing the Score for the Choice. If more NO votes than YES votes are counted, the Choice has a negative Score. The voting or tally machine can also keep a running total of this with increment-decrement counters that can handle negative numbers.
   • The totals obtained by each party are compared. If there is any discrepancy, an investigation starts immediately.
   • The ballots shall be examined to ascertain that all of the ballots are still there, that no extra ballots are present, the serial numbers are in order, and the ballots have not been altered. If there is any discrepancy, an investigation starts immediately.
   • The Scores of the Choices are entered into the tally board.
   • All Choices with negative or zero Scores are removed from the normal election process at this point. They are retained for purposes of electoral voting.
6. The results:
   • If one Choice has a unique highest positive Score, that Choice is elected.
   • If more than one Choice has the same highest Score, the runoff procedure below is used among only the Choices having that same high Score. This would be extremely rare.
   • If no Choice has a positive Score:
     • If the race is for a legislative, executive, or judicial office, the runoff procedure is used among an entirely new slate of candidates.*
     • If the race is for an administrative office, and at least one candidate had fewer NO votes than twice his YES votes, the runoff procedure is used with an entirely new slate of candidates.*
     • If the election is for an administrative office, and every candidate had more NO votes than twice his YES votes, the office is abolished.
     • If the election is a referendum, no change is made to the current law.
   • If someone challenges the tally legally, the runoff procedure is held among all Choices with positive Scores (instead of doing a recount). The one doing the challenge shall pay for it.
   • If proof of voter fraud or a ballot printing or programming error is demonstrated, all tallies of all candidates in the affected races shall be kept secret, and a revote on just the affected races shall be taken one week after the election.
   • If proof of voting official fraud to give some candidates more YES or fewer NO votes is demonstrated, all YES tallies of those candidates within the polling place affected shall be set to zero as a penalty for the cheating.
   • If proof of voting official fraud to give some candidates more NO or fewer YES votes is demonstrated, all NO tallies of those candidates within the polling place affected shall be set to zero as a penalty for the cheating.
   • If proof of fraud in the mails occurs to prevent or delay delivery of ballots, the same penalties are applied as those for fraud by officials above.
7. The runoff procedure (used only in case of a tie, a tally challenge, no positive scores, or ballot error):
   • No Choice that received a negative or zero Score can be a Choice in any runoff, unless a ballot error existed.
   • The runoff election is exactly 2 weeks after the original election.
   • If evidence of fraud was discovered, any party may post extra inspectors who look for fraud.
   • The same procedure for balloting, tallying, and evaluating the results is used, except:
     • The voter card must be already punched for the main election and any previous runoffs, or the voter shall not vote in the runoff. No voter may join the process at the runoff stage.
     • In a legislative, executive, or judicial race, the runoff procedure is repeated every two weeks until someone wins the election.
     • An administrative office is abolished if no positive Scores occur in the runoff, regardless of whether any candidate had fewer NO votes than twice his YES votes.
     • No challenge may be filed on the results of a runoff unless proof of fraud is shown.

* = It is obvious that no majority wanted any of the current candidates.

Play with the various voting systems

SAMPLE BALLOT

The above ballot is mark-sense, but the Independent Voting System will work with most voting equipment. This includes paper ballots, lever machines, electronic machines, touch screen, and punch card. Notice that you can vote for or against more than one candidate, and that parties can run more than one candidate.

Secure ballots must be mark-sense.

Independent voting is designed to choose, among all possible outcomes, the outcome that pleases the largest number of voters.

The Independent Voting System is well worth adopting. It will provide a better selection based on public opinion than any of the current systems do.

See the special procedures for at-large elections, electoral elections, proportional elections, and numeric elections farther down this page.

LINKS:

• Play with the various voting systems
• Unfair and Fair elections - the menu
• Unfair and Fair elections - original page
• Comparing different election systems
• Criteria for Fair Elections
• Election Cheats and Biases
• Voting machine makers won't commit fraud
• Dimpled chad are not votes
• THE POLLS ARE WRONG
• Stupid Government Tricks
• HOME

SPECIAL INDEPENDENT VOTING SYSTEM PROCEDURES:

SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR AT-LARGE ELECTIONS

At-large elections are not fair.

In at-large elections, usually used to select governing board members, the following procedure is used instead:

1. Use the Regular Independent Voting System election above.
2. If the office has n seats, indicate that on the ballot. But the voter is not restricted to voting for n choices.
3. The n choices with the highest positive scores are elected.
4. If fewer than n choices have positive scores, use the regular runoff process above, but make sure that enough choices are on the ballot, and elect only enough choices to fill the remaining empty positions.

Consideration should be made for proportional representation instead of at-large representation. Proportional representation usually fits public opinion better.

SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR ELECTORAL ELECTIONS

In electoral elections, usually used to select the executive of the government, the following procedure is used instead:

1. The election ballot is made and conducted in exactly the same way as in a Regular Independent Voting System election, including all of the security measures.
2. Sets of YES, NO, and ABSTAIN counters for the votes for each Choice are made for:
   • Each precinct,
   • Each representative district for the level of government the electoral election is for
   • Each senatorial district for the level of government the electoral election is for
   • The Electoral Votes themselves

   Note that the votes counted in each representative and senatorial district are votes for the electoral office, not votes for the representative or senator. The districts are used to tell which tally the votes count for.

   All of these counters are set to zero at the start of the tally process.

3. When the YES, NO, and ABSTAIN counts are taken for each precinct, they are taken in the same manner as the counts of the Regular Independent Voting System election. But no Scores are calculated yet. The counts are entered into the Precinct counters.
4. The YES, NO, and ABSTAIN count results for each Choice in each precinct are added to the counters made for the legislative representative district serving that precinct.
5. The same precinct results are also added to each set of counters made for each senatorial district serving that precinct.
6. The tallies for each representative district shall now be scored. Find the Score for each Choice as is done for the Regular Independent Voting System election above. But do not eliminate Choices with negative or zero Scores at this time.
7. Turn the representative district Scores into Electoral Votes:
   • A YES Electoral Vote for the Choice if the Score is positive
   • A NO Electoral Vote for the Choice if the Score is negative
   • An ABSTAIN Electoral Vote for the Choice if the tally is zero
8. Sum the Electoral Votes so produced into the Electoral Vote counters.
9. The tallies for each senate district shall now be scored. Find the Scores for each senate district.
10. For each Choice, turn the senate district tally results into Electoral Votes:

    The first senatorial electoral vote:

    • One YES Electoral Vote for the Choice if the Score is positive
    • One NO Electoral Vote for the Choice if the Score is negative
    • One ABSTAIN Electoral Vote for the Choice if the tally is zero

    The second senatorial electoral vote:

    • One YES Electoral Vote if the YES total is more than either the NO total or the ABSTAIN total
    • One NO Electoral Vote if the NO total is more than either the YES total or the ABSTAIN total
    • One ABSTAIN Electoral Vote if the ABSTAIN total is more than either the YES total or the NO total
    • One YES Electoral Vote if the YES total equals the ABSTAIN total and is more than the NO total
    • One NO Electoral Vote if the NO total equals the ABSTAIN total and is more than the YES total
    • One ABSTAIN Electoral Vote if the YES total equals the NO total

    If there are more than two senators per district, the additional odd electoral votes use the first senatorial electoral vote and the even ones use the second senatorial electoral vote.

11. Sum the Electoral Votes so produced into the Electoral Vote counters.
12. The Electoral Votes for each candidate shall be scored just like regular votes in the Regular Independent Voting System election above.
13. The winner is now computed as in the Regular Independent Voting System election above, using the tallies from the Electoral Votes.

If a tie occurs in the electoral vote, the following are tried until the tie is broken:

1. All senatorial electoral votes in each district are replaced with the district first electoral vote values.
2. All senatorial electoral votes in each district are replaced with the district second electoral vote values.
3. If the tie stands both of the above tries, a revote occurs for the office.
4. The runoff procedure is the same as in the Regular Independent Voting System election above, except that nobody may challenge a precinct tally unless it can affect the winner of the electoral tallies by itself.

Winner-Take-All electoral voting in a state or other district is unfair, and is not allowed.

SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION ELECTIONS

Proportional representation is based on allocating the number of representatives or votes in the governing body to be proportional to the number of votes each political party or Choice receives. The Independent Voting System is modified slightly to fill a proportionally represented governing body as follows:

1. The election ballot is made and conducted in exactly the same way as in a Regular Independent Voting System election.
2. The tallies shall now be scored. Find the Score for each Choice as is done for the Regular Independent Voting System election above. But do not eliminate Choices with negative or zero Scores in this process.
3. Instead, remove all Choices that received no YES votes.
4. Find the remaining Choice with the most negative score. Add this number to all of the Choices' scores to find their Partial Numbers.
5. Find the sum of all of the Partial Numbers.
6. Divide the sum of the Partial Numbers so found by the number of votes in the chamber to get the Reduction Ratio.
7. For each Choice, divide its Partial Number by the Reduction Ratio, giving the Selection Number for that Choice.
8. Round each Selection Number to the nearest integer, giving the Index Number. But if any Choice receives zero as an Index Number, replace it with a one.
9. Find the sum of the index numbers.
10. If the sum of the Index Numbers does not now equal the number of votes in the chamber, adjust the sum in the correct direction by changing the rounding of the Index Numbers of the Choices with Selection Numbers closest to the .5 rounding point. But again, such changes must not produce an Index Number of Zero.
11. Make a table as follows:

    In this example, the body has 6 seats and 104 votes.

    Demicans 39 Republicrats 30 Libertariats 26 Greeds 9 Squatcho 26 Stubbery 12 Pudloo 11 Greedo 9 Dunbury 13 Ritlo 8 Libraitiss 8 Reblicto 6 Triatsun 7 Publicus 4

    A. Give each Political Party one column. B. Arrange the Choices into the columns under their Political Parties, one per row. C. Put each Index Number with its Choice.

    D. Sum the Index numbers for each party. Put the sum next to the party name to be put with the Parties E. Sort each column's rows according to the Index numbers of the Choices, with the greater numbers at the top. F. Sort the columns according to the sums of the Index Numbers of the Parties, with the greater numbers on the left. Note: If several parties have the same sum of Index Numbers, Sort that subgroup of parties according to the highest candidate Index Number found within each Party.

12. Going across, row by row, from left to right, and from top down, count off the number of seats in the legislative body. Seat the Choices counted off. Skip any empty cells when counting, so each count has a Choice attached to it.
13. Divide the remaining Index Numbers into units, and distribute the units in each column equally among the seated candidates there:

    G. Count off, left to right, and going down by rows, the 6 seats in the body. H. Throw out the remaining candidates. I. Evenly distribute the remaining units in the column, distributing the ones that won't evenly divide by starting at the top.

    Demicans 39 Republicrats 30 Libertariats 26 Greeds 9 Squatcho 26 Stubbery 17 Pudloo 26 Greedo 9 Dunbury 13 Ritlo 13

14. The next part can be done instead of step I if it is desired that candidates of the same party have the same vote, instead of proportional votes:

    J. Evenly distribute all of the units in the column, distributing the ones that won't evenly divide by starting at the top.

    Demicans 39 Republicrats 30 Libertariats 26 Greeds 9 Squatcho 20 Stubbery 15 Pudloo 26 Greedo 9 Dunbury 19 Ritlo 15

15. If the number of Choices on the ballot is less than the number of seats, or the number of Choices receiving YES votes is less than the number of seats, the remaining seats are filled in a runoff election with none of the original Choices allowed to be on the ballot.
16. If the number of seats is less than the number of Parties (columns), each unseated Political Party shall choose which seated Choice or Choices to give all or parts of its Index Number units to.

    If there were 3 seats instead of 6:
    J. The unseated Political Party chose which seated Choice or Choices to give all or parts of its Index Number units to.	Demicans 48 Republicrats 30 Libertariats 26 Greeds 0 Squatcho 48 Stubbery 30 Pudloo 26 9 given to Squatcho

17. The final Index Number of each Choice becomes the number of votes the Choice has as the seated proportional representative.

An alternative to proportional representation is increasing the number of districts.

SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR ELECTIONS TO SET NUMERICAL VALUES

Numerical selection is based on finding the public's choice of a number, usually for salaries or tax rates. The Independent Voting System is modified slightly to find a number as follows:

1. If the value to be found is a real value, at least 10 Values, evenly spaced, are placed on the ballot in numerical order, with each Value being a Choice.
2. If the value to be found is an integer value, the values to be selected among are placed on the ballot in numerical order, with each Value being a Choice.
3. This system shall not be used to set speed limits or other values that should be set by sound engineering practice, not politics.
4. Before the election, if any person objects to a Value not being included on the ballot, and the Value is a legal one to be considered, the number and distribution of Values on the ballot shall be changed so that all the original Values, the added Value, and sufficiently more Values to make all of the Values equally spaced, are all on the ballot.
5. The election is conducted in exactly the same way as in a Regular Independent Voting System election. The voter votes Yes on all Values within the range he likes, No on all Values he will not accept, and abstains on the rest.
6. The tallies shall now be scored. Find the Score for each Choice as is done for the Regular Independent Voting System election above.
7. The winner is computed as in the Regular Independent Voting System election above.
8. If two real values next to each other tie as co-winners, the actual value shall be the average of the two values.
9. If a runoff election is indicated due to a lack of a positive Score, the list of numbers used in the runoff shall be found by finding the midpoints between adjacent numbers, and then adding zero to the list.
10. If the runoff fails to produce a winner, the result shall be as if the election never took place. Any tax or new salaried position shall cease to exist. Any existing salary shall continue at the same rate. And any proposed numerical limit placed on the public is repealed.

Also check the procedures for legislative votes for budgets below.

SPECIAL PROCEDURES FOR LEGISLATURE VOTES FOR BUDGETS

Two procedures for passing a budget in a legislature:

Note that, in each example case, the third item is voted down.

* The following must be considered as essential and necessary: police, fire, emergency services, the military, crime investigation, justice, corrections, safety, sanitation, legislation, executives, education, and emergency poor relief

* The following must be considered as not essential and unnecessary: the arts, sports, entertainment, recreation, museums, monuments, memorials, statues, fancy architecture, parks, trails, swimming pools, ice rinks, bicycle paths, and utility systems.

SPECIAL PROCEDURES FOR LEGISLATURE VOTES ON ALTERNATIVE PLANS

Use the following procedure:

1. Enter each alternative into the vote as in an Independent Voting System election.
2. Vote on each alternative using the Independent Voting System. Since the outcomes do not affect each other, the votes can be taken simultaneously or sequentially.
3. Score the votes after all of the votes have been taken.
4. The highest positive score wins.
5. If there is no positive, score, then no change shall be made.

This procedure must always be used if there is a disagreement on what to do.

LINKS:

• Plurality -- vs -- Independent
• Unfair and Fair elections - the menu
• Unfair and Fair elections - original page
• Play with the various voting systems
• Comparing different election systems
• Criteria for Fair Elections
• Election Cheats and Biases
• Voting machine makers won't commit fraud
• Dimpled chad are not votes
• THE POLLS ARE WRONG
• Stupid Government Tricks
• HOME