[Mpi-forum] MPI Forum voting rules: new version

[Jeff Squyres (jsquyres)]

On Jan 16, 2013, at 4:36 PM, Aurélien Bouteiller <bouteill at icl.utk.edu> wrote:

> Maybe the individual ballot quorum should be defined with respect to the number of abstain only, and not as a function of IMOVE institutions that may leave without setting voting instructions. What about redefining rule 7. as "abstain votes must not represent more than 1/4 of total votes on that particular ballot" ? 

Abstaining is the act of not voting (i.e., it's the same as not saying anything when the secretary calls your organization to vote).  

So I'm not quite sure what you mean -- those who leave early are implicitly abstaining (see para 3 in 2.3.1).  I don't see the difference between what you propose and what is in rule 7.

> I also still think that the 7. rule of less than 1/4 abstain is too high. the 3/4 of yes/no is already ensuring strong consensus among people who care.

The point of rule 7 is to ensure that enough people care.

> As is, that 7 rule is just a convoluted rewrite of the rule that abstain/no are the same thing

Abstain != no in this proposal.  See 2.3.1, bullets #1 and #2.

> (to pass, a ballot has to get 1/2 of the IMOVE quorum). This is especially problematic if the definition of IMOVE includes a lot of people who cannot cast votes because they are not present anymore physically.

Simple solution: ensure that you *are* present to vote.  :-)

To be clear: I do not intend to alter this proposal to cater to organizations who do not plan to be present to vote.

> But even in general terms, it may be interesting to have "abstain" be a vote that has less impact than "no" on the success of a ballot, a flexibility given by setting the bar of abstain to less than 1/3 or 1/2 (or any fraction in-between).

I repeat what I said above: abstain != no in this proposal.  I think I have been pretty public in my feeling that abstain==no is a terrible idea.  :-)

-- 
Jeff Squyres
jsquyres at cisco.com
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