Thread by @DonaldKronos

A #BRIRE system includes the powers of #ScoreVoting, #ApprovalVoting, #RankedChoiceVoting & more, with balance built-in allowing voters an option of using a #BalancedBallot to cast a true #NegativeVote if they choose a ballot which includes that option. Continue reading… #BRIRES

#BRIRES EXPLAINED: A Balanced Rational Instant Runoff Election System (#BRIRES) is much more powerful than the USA's out-dated first-past-the-post system and allows voters to choose a simple ballot to be automatically converted or a #BRIRE ballot to access the full potential.

Using a computer system to vote with a simpler ballot such as one the voter is accustomed to, they could choose to view the calculated translation of their simple ballot into a full #BRIRE ballot and optionally edit it before printing or submitting the final ballot. #BRIRES

A powerful & versatile #BRIRE ballot could be used directly by the voter or mathematically calculated & produced from a ballot of the voter's choosing. It could even be made possible for the voter to see after the election how their ballot evolved in the runoff process. #BRIRES

What follows is an explanation of the full #BRIRE ballot itself & how it would afford each voter equal voting power at each stage in the instant runoff process, regardless of how they chose to cast their vote. The voter would not actually need to understand such details. #BRIRES

Imagine a list of candidates with the following voting instructions above it: On any positive scale where zero or blank indicates no approval, rate how much you approve of each of these candidates for the specified office. This is where you would vote for candidates. #BRIRES

Another list (#NegativeVote), would show the same candidates and have the following voting instructions above it: On any positive scale where zero or blank indicates no disapproval, rate how much you disapprove of each of these candidates for the specified office. #BRIRES

If voting with the aid of a computer system, the voter could choose to display their #BRIRE ballot with or without the #NegativeVote list or their chosen simpler ballot with or without a #NegativeVoteOption. That is, as a #BalancedBallot or a familiar unbalanced ballot. #BRIRES

The voter would fill out their chosen ballot. A computer would convert the ballot to a #BRIRE ballot, if some other ballot form had been chosen. Blanks would then be converted to the digit zero for completeness and their ballot would be ready for printing or submission. #BRIRES

Any voter who doesn't understand such a system enough to take full advantage of it would be able to mimic the first-past-the-post system most of the USA uses by simply entering a 1 next to any candidate in the approval list and ignoring the disapproval list. #BRIRES

The same method of simply placing a 1 next to each candidate the voter approves of could be used to mimic an approval voting ballot. This would be done for the voter as a translation of their simpler ballot response if the voter opts for such a simple ballot. #BRIRES

If a voter accidentally voted for more than one candidate on a pick-one style first-past-the-post ballot, they would simply have inadvertently taken advantage of the power of approval voting, rather than having their ballot invalidated. No need to only pick one candidate. #BRIRES

Likewise, a voter could opt for a simple balanced (or unbalanced) ranked choice voting ballot, where 1 is the highest rank, and their ranking would simply be converted into its multiplicative inverse such that 2 becomes ½, 3 becomes ⅓, 4 becomes ¼, and so on. #BRIRES

Unlike ordinary ranked-choice voting, a #BRIRE system would allow every candidate that the voter approves of to be supported by their vote at every stage in the runoff where the candidate has not been eliminated, while preserving the voter's order of preference. #BRIRES

Also unlike ordinary ranked-choice voting, the #BRIRE system would discourage expressing positive support for a candidate seen as a mere lesser of evils, since voting for more candidates spreads the vote out over those candidates until they are eliminated by the runoff. #BRIRES

Simpler ballots could include #NegativeVote options for balance or could leave them off for further simplicity if that is the voter's preference. The system is meant to be #VoterCentric to best accommodate the various preferences & abilities of a diverse range of voters. #BRIRES

All properly made #BRIRE voting systems would offer each voter a choice of how they would like to cast their votes and all such ballots would be fairly counted and processed together in the same system without the possibility of incompatibility issues. #BRIRES

Any voter could opt to cast, in any election on the ballot, #PosiviteVotes, #NegativeVotes, or both. However, the system would offer no advantage to dishonest voting such as voting against one candidate as a way of augmenting a vote for a different candidate. #BRIRES

If the voter indicates both approval and disapproval with regard to candidates in a particular election, the weight of their vote would be evenly divided between their expressed approval and their expressed disapproval until the runoff process eliminates one or the other. #BRIRES

The #BRIRES concept is designed to encourage intelligent voting rather than trying to strategically game the system. A #PositiveVote would be the smartest option. A #NegativeVote option would be available for when there are no candidates that the voter actually approves of.

If the voter honestly can't decide whether they want more to cast a vote of approval of a vote of disapproval with regard to a given election, that voter could opt to do both, but at the expense of having their vote divided between those two options early in the runoff process.

Because voters opting for a simpler ballot could review & edit the #BRIRE ballot produced as a translation of that simpler ballot, the system could help voters learn at their own pace to take better advantage of the powerful & versatile features of its own type of ballot. #BRIRES

Once all #BRIRE ballots have been submitted and the deadline for final submission has passed, the instant runoff process would begin. Each stage of the runoff process would proceed as follows, being processed via computer with a record kept of each step along the way. #BRIRES

First the system would divide each of a voter's approval scores by their sum total with regard to that elected position, to count as that fraction of their #PositiveVote going to the specified candidate. #BRIRES

Then the system would divide each of a voter's disapproval scores by their sum total with regard to that elected position, to count as that fraction of their #NegativeVote against the specified candidate. #BRIRES

With regard to each elected position if a voter cast neither a #PositiveVote nor a #NegativeVote that vote would be counted as #NoneOfTheAbove. If they used only the #PositiveVote option or only the #NegativeVote option, that's how it would be entered. #BRIRES

If a voter has expressed a combination of #PositiveVote & #NegativeVote concerning candidates who has not been eliminated with regard to the elected position, those votes would be divided in half to give the voter a total power of one vote on that position in that round. #BRIRES

Once the votes have been normalized to a value of one vote per voter per available elected position, the system would add each voter's #ApprovalVotes & #DisapprovalVotes to respective #ApprovalVote & #DisapprovalVote sums for each specified candidate. #BRIRES

Each candidate's #DisapprovalVote sum would then be subtracted from that candidate's #ApprovalVote sum for the given round to reach a #NetVote regarding that candidate for the given elected position in that round & the one with the lowest net vote would be eliminated. #BRIRES

When there is only one candidate remaining with in the contest for a given elected position, that candidate wins, unless the voters have collectively expressed more disapproval than approval with regard to the remaining candidate, in which case #NoneOfTheAbove wins. #BRIRES

If #NoneOfTheAbove wins a specific elected position, for example if only one candidate remains and that candidate has not been collectively approved by a positive #NetVote total, then disqualify the candidates who ran for that position start that position's election over. #BRIRES

If there is more than one candidate remaining, the system would reset the sums & return to the step where it would add each voter's #ApprovalVotes & #DisapprovalVotes to the respective #ApprovalVote & #DisapprovalVote sums for each specified candidate. #BRIRES

When only one candidate for the given position remains and that candidate has a positive #NetVote total, that candidate is the winner. At each stage of the run-off, each voter would be given the weight of one full vote with regard to each position up for election. #BRIRES

This #BRIRE system concept is the result of five decades of concept evolution and internally supports the full set of features from a variety of popular election systems while improving on some of them and allowing any of them to be used from each voter's perspective. #BRIRES

Here's a link to this a copy of this thread, unrolled. threadreaderapp.com/thread/1294115…
Makes it easier to read. #BRIRES

To help us make elections even more fair, here is a link to a copy of my thread about my #PeoplesPrimary concept. threadreaderapp.com/thread/1295820… which makes it easier to read.

You can open my #PeoplesPrimary thread directly at

https://twitter.com/DonaldKronos/status/1295820749102411776

to read about my approval vote People's Primary concept, which could be used in an election's first stage to augment a #BRIRES implementation in the second stage, or general election. 🔥#PeoplesCampaign🐦