Every voter receives votes for his disposal. They are placed in his account, in his fund, the same number for every issue which is handled. Every voter offers a different number of votes, many in an issue he considers important, none in an issue he considers not worth anything.
In every issue there may be two or more alternatives. The voter considers first how many votes he will offer for the alternative he considers the best compared with the one he considers the least. He considers the other alternatives in the same way. The alternative that receives most votes wins. From those who give the victory there are subtracted as many votes as those who opposed the alternative offered. An issue everybody likes does therefore not cost a vote. We present a case where an issue is submitted and the participants consider how important it is in relation to what they know or expect to be handled in the near future. By this fund voting connects issues.
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There are two alternatives in the issue, A and B. For A there are offered 20 votes and 10 for B. From those who offered votes for A there will be subtracted 10 votes. Of the 20 votes offered for A, Mary offered 6. From her there are subtracted 6x10/20=3 votes. |
- In most issues there are more than two alternatives. In fund voting it makes no problem to have more than two alternatives in an issue.
- A participant does not divide the votes between alternatives, he only pays for his support of one alternative, the alternative that receives most votes. It is only if a participant supports the conclusion in the issue that his vote fund will be subtracted.
- In the beginning of a fund voting every participant receives a certain sum of votes. Since he receives 1/4 of that vote number in his fund when every issue is concluded.
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Mary has 50 votes in her fund. The issue to be handled has four alternatives, A, B, C and D. She offers votes, as follows: A 0 vote B 10 votes C 40 votes D 30 votes Only one of these alternatives can cost Mary votes. D gained most votes, 120. Now it is calculated how much the conclusion cost. It is best to do by a computer program, but in fact it is not a complicated mathematics, the method being presented in Chapter 3.A in the bookDemocracy with Sequential Choice and Fund Voting. |
- The participants become responsible in their points of view as everyone declares how much he will offer (in votes) for realizing every single alternative in the issue. It does not hinder a participant which supposes that his goal alternative will receive only weak support, to offer most votes for it. He can namely offer votes for an alternative which he expects will receive a general support and such work for some of them he considers as acceptable being the conclusion, instead of an alternative he considers the least one. Those who believe they are only a small minority in an issue which has not been submitted, can test in a fund voting whether indifference or opposition by the majority weighs more in votes than their own engagement and support.