[PSF-Community] Selection Message in Helios

[David Mertz]

I am delighted to have just completed my vote for the slate of the 2020
term PSF Board.  As my personal voting strategy, I read all of the
candidate statements, and nominator statements where they were made, and
basically tried to come up with any reason in my mind why a given candidate
was not absolutely my highest preference.  That said, even if ALL 4 seats
go to folks I did not vote for, I will remain delighted by the outcome,
since there are so many wonderful candidates running.

At the completion of selection (in my case, of 11 candidates), I was
presented with this message:

[you under-voted: you may select up to 26]
>

I was, in the past, the PSF Voting Administrator, and introduced the use of
Approval Voting as the election method (many years ago now).  So I get what
this means, but I am concerned that the phrasing may confuse new voters, or
simply those less wrapped up in election arcana.  I do not know if it is
possible now to adjust that phrase slightly.

ANY number of votes, from zero to 26 is technically valid in the Approval
Voting style.  It is a little bit pointless to vote for exactly 0 or
exactly 26, since your vote will not affect the outcome in those cases (but
it is still valid, and registers your participation).  But any number of
approvals from 1 to 25 will in some manner legitimately express a
differential preference.

When you vote, if you see a similar message, do not be alarmed by it.  You
are given an opportunity there to adjust your votes, if you wish, but you
may also simply submit your vote with your desired number of selections,
and it will be valid and counted.

Yours, David...

---
The dead increasingly dominate and strangle both the living and the
not-yet born.  Vampiric capital and undead corporate persons abuse
the lives and control the thoughts of homo faber. Ideas, once born,
become abortifacients against new conceptions.
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