Representative Election - Please read

Good evening everyone,

thank you very much, Ulan, for your effort to measure the public opinion on who should become the MILE 7 student representative.

I think the results are quite interesting and add some spice to any actual election. Without offence, however, if anyone seriously wants to take these results as the basis of a democratic election, I will certify her or him to hold a somehow very weird view on what democracy actually is:

In the mentioned poll, only 22 students (of actual 33!) were able to vote. The same accounts for the right to be voted for. Thus we would have simply excluded 1/3 of our fellow classmates of the opportunity to vote or to be elected. Moreover, among the 22, those who voted late, were able to significantly manipulate the result by making biased decisions, since they actually voted for those who were already voted for earlier by others. In other words, they held more information concerning the results than those who voted earlier and were able to make a more tactical decision

In my view, a direct, free, equal and secret election in small, democratically organised groups is conducted as following:

1. Every MILE student has one vote and the right to suggest candidates.

2.In an open forum, potential candidates for the representative position are suggested by others or themselves. The persons named may accept or not accept canditature.

3.Those who accept the candidature are voted on in secrecy (e.g. by writing the respective name on a piece of paper and folding it). The votes are collected and counted by someone who has by consensus been appointed to administrate the election.

4.The candidate unifying most votes on her or his person is elected to be the representative.

5.In case a vice representative shall be elected - as agreed upon by consensus among all students - the procedure is repeated, including necessary suggestions for candidates for that position.

I am happy to go through this procedure with you guys and the other MILE students, who do not receive this email because they have not registered on the MILE 7 homepage. I believe, if we simply spare a half hour of our lunch break for this procedure (let s say this Wednesday), we should be able to get a legitimate and good representative.

Best regards,

David