Asset voting

Asset voting or candidate proxy is a voting system which provides proportional representation by allowing all candidates to negotiate the outcome, using the votes cast for them as proxies in subsequent rounds. It is unconventional in the sense that not only voters, but also candidates, can directly affect the outcome.

Candidates may use, distribute, or redistribute votes they received in the election, negotiating with each other to put together a coalition of enough votes to win office. This was proposed in a pamphlet published by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) in 1884. [cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XJBaAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1|title=The Political Pamphlets and Letters of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and Related Pieces|author=Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Francine F. Abeles|year=2001|isbn=0930326148] Though famous for his Alice stories, Dodgson was also a mathematician who pioneered voting theory. [cite book|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PN1dAAAACAAJ|title=A Mathematical Approach to Proportional Representation|author=Duncan Black, Iain McLean, Alistair McMillan, Burt L. Monroe, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson|isbn=0792396200] The mathematical economist, Duncan Black, analysed his work and described the process: candidates receiving votes may treat them as "if they were their own private property" for purposes of creating proportional representation. [citation|url=http://rangevoting.org/BlackCarrollAER2.pdf|author=Duncan Black|title=Lewis Carroll and the Theory of Games|journal=The American Economic Review|volume=59|issue=2|date=May 1969|pages=206-210] The term "asset voting" for this was coined by Warren D. Smith of the Center for Range Voting in 2004 [cite web|url=http://rangevoting.org/Asset.html|title=Asset voting – an interesting and very simple multiwinner voting system|author=Warren D. Smith|publisher=The Center for Range Voting|accessdate=29 May 2008] . Mike Ossipoff (in 2000) and Forrest Simmons (in 2002) earlier referred to a similar idea as "candidate proxy". [ [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/election-methods-list/message/14269 Yahoo! Groups ] ] [cite web|url=http://lists.electorama.com/htdig.cgi/election-methods-electorama.com/2002-December/008919.html|title=Candidate Proxy Methods|date=2 Dec 2002|publisher=Election Methods mailing list]

This voting system may be used as a model to coordinate multiple heterogenous autonomous systems which have a mission with multiple objectives. The autonomous systems are allowed to influence the weights assigned to each objective. Results from a simulation demonstrated a level of overall mission success comparable to that obtained in an ideal centralised mechanism. [cite conference|title=The coordination of multiple autonomous systems using information theoretic political science voting models|coauthors=A. Abel, S. Sukkarieh|publisher=IEEE|booktitle=2006 IEEE/SMC International Conference on System of Systems Engineering|date=24-26 April 2006|year=2006|url=http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/10995/34635/01652289.pdf?temp=x]

ee also

* Proxy voting

References