Internet Resources for Voting matters

1  General Resources

1. OpenSTV - Open source STV software for conducting STV counts according the various rules.
   
   
2. Newland and Britton STV rules. The link gives an HTML version of the ERS publication which is the 3rd edition of the rules published in 1997.
   
   
3. The Meek algorithm - original publication from the Computer Journal archive. The file is 2.5Mb in PDF.
   
   
4. The Meek algorithm - corrected edition. The file is 168KB in PDF and contains a record of an error in the program which would result in the program looping in extreme cases.
   
   
5. Detailed description of STV WIGM count PDF. The file is 95 KB in PDF and contains only a detailed description of the STV count that will apply the Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method (WIGM) of transferring surpluses in accordance with the election rules specified in the Scottish Local Government Elections Order 2007 (SSI 2007 No. 42). This procedure will be used to count the votes for the Local Government elections in Scotland held on 3 May 2007.
   
   
6. Testing the eSTV program for the Scottish Local Government Elections 30 March 2007 PDF (152 KB). This report on the eSTV counting program used for the Local Government elections in Scotland in May 2007 was prepared by the Laboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo) of the Radboud University Nijmegen.
   
   
   

2  Resources for specific papers

• Lundell: Second Repor t of the Irish Commission on Electronic Voting. Issue 23.
  1. Ted Selker & Jon Goler, Security Vulnerabilities and Problems with VVPT, CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project White Paper #16, April 2004. PDF
     
     
  2. Ted Selker & Sharon Cohen, An Active Approach to Voting Verification, CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project White Paper #28, May 2005. PDF
     
     
  3. Rop Gonggrijp et al, Nedap/Groenendaal ES3B voting computer: a security analysis, the "We do not trust voting computers" foundation, October 2006. PDF
     
     
  4. Aaron Gray-Block, "Fraud concerns over ballot computers", Expatica, 18 October 2006. HTML
     
     
  5. Requiring Software Independence in VVSG 2007: STS Recommendations for the TGDC, William Burr, John Kelsey, Rene Peralta, John Wack, National Institute of Standards and Technology, November 2006, p4. PDF
     
     
  
  
  
• Gilmour: Developing STV Rules for manual counting. Issue 22.
  1. Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Royal Assent 29 July 2004. HTML cover page
     
     
  2. Local Governance (Scotland) Bill. Introduced 21 November 2003. PDF, 120KB
     
     
  3. Nanson, E. J. (1900) The real value of a vote and how to get it at the coming Federal elections. Melbourne, J. T. Picken. quoted by: McLean, I. (2002) Australian electoral reform and two concepts of representation PDF, 104KB
     
     
  4. Local Government and Transport Committee Official Report 9 December 2003 HTML
     
     
  5. Local Government and Transport Committee 2nd Report 2004 (Session 2). Stage 1 Report on the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill Volume 1: Report HTML
     
     
  6. Local Governance (Scotland) Bill: Marshalled List of Amendments selected for Stage 3 PDF, 52KB
     
     
  7. Scottish Parliament Official Report (Session 2) 23 June 2004, Col. 9392 HTML
     
     
  8. Second Newsletter of the Local Elections 2007 Steering Group Ð July 2005 PDF, 104KB
     
     
  9. UK-Edinburgh: data capture services 2005/S 171-170043 Contract Notice Scottish Executive Tender for the Provision of Electronic Counting Services for Elections HTML
     
     
  10. UK-Edinburgh: data capture services 2006/S 36-038769 Contract Award Notice Provision of Electronic Counting Services for Elections HTML
      
      
  11. Making Every Vote Count : the case for electoral reform in British Columbia : the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform technical report. December 2004 PDF, 1.9Mb .
      
      
  12. Farrell, D. M. and McAllister, I. (2003) The 1983 Change in Surplus Vote Transfer Procedures for the Australian Senate and its Consequences for the Single Transferable Vote. Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 38, 479Ð491. PDF, 108KB
      
      
  13. Western Australia: Electoral Legislation Amendment Bill 2003. Section 39 PDF, 136KB
      
      
  14. Gilmour, J. (revised 1 July 2006) STV Rules for manual counting to give effect to the Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method of transferring surpluses, with candidates' votes recorded as integer values. PDF, 32KB
      
      
  15. Australia : Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 - Section 273 : Scrutiny of votes in Senate elections: paragraph (9)(b) HTML
      
      
  16. Electoral Reform Society : Regulations for the Election of One Person by means of the Single Transferable Vote HTML
      
      
  
  
  
• Hill: Implementing STV by Meek's method. Issue 22.
  1. Validation of Implementation of the Meek Algorithm for STV. B A Wichmann.
     
     
  
  
  
• Lundell: Random tie-breaking in STV. Issue 22.
  1. The Evolution of a Cryptographer.
     
     
  
  
  
• O'Neill: Comments on the STV Rules Proposed by British Columbia. Issue 22.
  1. Making Every Vote Count.
     
     
  2. A Sample Statute for Choice Voting. Center for Voting and Democracy.
     
     
  3. Courageous STV. Dave Robinson.
     
     
  
  
  
• Ombler: Booklet position effects. Issue 21.
  1. Department of Internal Affairs, `STV Information', 2004, URL
     
     
  2. Susan Banducci, Michael Thrasher, Colin Rallings and Jeffrey A. Karp, `Candidate appearance cues in low-information elections', 2003, Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Political Science Association (Philadelphia), URL p. 14.
     
     
  3. Mark van de Wiel, Computer program spearman.c for calculating the `Exact distribution of Spearman's rank statistic', available from URL
     
     
  
  
  

A  Document details

1. First written March 2006.
   
   
2. Updated for Issue 22, July 2006.
   
   
3. Updated for Issue 23, February 2007.
   
   
4. Updated for STV-WIGM description 17th April 2007.
   
   
5. Updated to include e-STV software validation report, 6th June 2007.