Loomio
Mon 13 Mar 2017 7:29PM

SRV updated to 0...5

MF Mark Frohnmayer Public Seen by 23

Hey team, based on the feedback and vote here, I updated the graphics and text at http://equal.vote and http://equal.vote/srvvsirv to a scoring range of 0...5. Anyone who had an opinion on that topic, please feel free to give those pages a look and see what you think.

AW

Aaron Wolf Mon 13 Mar 2017 8:36PM

LGTM

CS

Clay Shentrup Tue 14 Mar 2017 4:14PM

I suspect 0-9 is better, but I do see how people could find it a little counterintuitive as opposed to 0-10. The 0-5 scale seems familiar, like rating products online. Also less ballot space. And still much greater expressiveness than a 1-2-3 ranked ballot.

I wonder how may candidates you have to have before that resolution frustrates voters who ca't discriminate between all the options. I guess you could call that many candidates "a nice problem to have".

SW

Sara Wolf Wed 15 Mar 2017 12:37AM

I really prefer it this way! I'm pretty damn sure it'll be more accurate overall! Stoked we made the change! I think this really mitigates the criticism that people might give quite different scores to OK candidates even if they feel the same way about them.

If we were androids and our preferences were based 100% on data analysis then the bigger scale would be more accurate, but because we are humans this change will pay back in spades as we are more consistent overall! I still strongly support this ballot for elections that have lots of candidates for the same reasons.

I think we need to run some real life simulations with real humans to look at how the ballot scale effects the results for lots of candidates. I propose we give 50-100 people a sample election and give them both ballots, 0-5 and 0-9. We also include a box to check at the bottom to say which ballot they prefer. We should repeat the experiment as much as possible with different test election to get a big enough sample size.

I suggest reaching out to Universities and getting the freshman lecture hall sized classes to be out guinea pigs!

CB

Casey Bolthouse Wed 15 Mar 2017 3:49AM

Zero to five looks good Mark. To me it's more intuitive and less intimidating than 0-9.

Why do the bubbles for zero have a dashed outline? I can think of some reasons but I'm curious how you arrived there. Sorry if this was discussed elsewhere.

MF

Mark Frohnmayer Wed 15 Mar 2017 8:50AM

Clay is correct, the dotted zero circle is to indicate that leaving the row blank will score the candidate zero. If we take the zero bubbles out then it's 1...5 which could be confused for ranks and some voters may think they have to give nonzero scores.

CB

Casey Bolthouse Wed 15 Mar 2017 3:33PM

Agreed on the reasons why zero needs to exist.

Do you think the dotted line might be a nuance that's open to interpretation? You're expecting voters to see the dots and think "zero is equal to abstention." But they might also think "that bubble looks different, I guess I shouldn't use it."

I know we want to minimize the instructional text, but an explicit statement might be better than a subtle graphic. Something to the effect of- "If you choose not to score a candidate, your ballot will count as zero for that candidate." Also, without the explicit statement, some voters might think an abstention is counted as a "neutral" or "middle" vote.

Just my $2.

MF

Mark Frohnmayer Wed 15 Mar 2017 7:06PM

Agreed. A real ballot would have more instruction than what we show on the site, for example:

Score Runoff Voting: you may score as many candidates on the ballot as you wish, from zero (no support) to 5 (maximum support). If you leave a scoring row blank, it counts as a zero score for that candidate. You can give multiple candidates the same score. Of the two highest scoring candidates overall, the winner is the one given a higher score by more voters.

CS

Clay Shentrup Wed 15 Mar 2017 5:43AM

Zero is the default if you leave it blank.

SW

Sara Wolf Wed 15 Mar 2017 7:56PM

I agree with Casey about not wanting the dotted line on the zero, I just figured the final ballot might not be 100% up to us to design anyways though.

On the final ballot I'm picturing the simplified instructions that we have now right at the top of the ballot bubble area, with the more detailed instructions a bit smaller at the very top. I definitely think there needs to be a line about how you should always give your favorite and least favorite a 0 and a 5 and that the best strategy is to show your honest nuanced opinions with your vote.

Detailed text:
Give each candidate a score from 0-5, the finalist you scored higher gets your vote in the runoff. The ballot has the words "BEST" and "WORST" above the 5 and the 0. Score candidates based on how they compare to each other, not to some ideal. No candidate is perfect. The best strategy is to honestly give your favorite a 5 and your least favorite a 0, and to show your honest detailed opinions for other candidates. It's fine to give multiple candidates the same score when you don't strongly prefer one to the other. You may want to mark your votes lightly in pencil first and then go over your ballot in pen when you are finished.

  • I'm avoiding words like relative that are less common in every day usage to promote clarity for all. I'm including enough detail that common questions will be answered.