Lots of elections use preferential voting (1st choice, 2nd choice etc. rather than X) and normally i only know a few, if any, of the candidates. I have developed my own scoring system to rank the candidates. There are three aspects and i give each manifesto a score out of five for each aspect. The result is a quick and easy way to rank the candidates.
1. Tell me who you are and what you have achieved
Elections are about personalities so tell me who you are - even a brief description helps. I have seen lots of manifestos that basically say "I have been elected a member of X committee for many years - vote for me again". All that tells me is that you are good at winning elections, not at actually achieving something once you have been elected.
2. Tell me what you want to do
Ultimately, i want the democratic organisation to do things that i agree with and therefore i want to vote for people whose plans and beliefs are closest to my own. That means i want to know what each candidate wants to do so i can decide if i agree with them or not. I prefer detailed plans (e.g. implement quarterly all-member emails) to bland statements (e.g. better communication with members). I score candidates who i agree with higher than those i do not agree with, but i score them higher than those that don't tell me anything about their plans.
3 Show me how well you can communicate
A manifesto should contain words and pictures and be eye-catching. Only a small minority of people have access to proper design computer software (e.g. photoshop) but pretty well everyone has access to Microsoft Powerpoint and can therefore produce more than a plain text document. And if the candidate is not that confident using the software then they should use their charms to find someone who does know what they are doing and get them to help produce the manifesto. I want to see a picture of the candidate (to see if i recognise them) and a call-to-action (e.g. "Vote Jon 1st preference").
Taken together, the three aspects give me a rounded view of each candidate and let me make an informed decision about what order to put them in.
Image from http://yourvoiceintheassembly.co.uk/stv/
2. Tell me what you want to do
Ultimately, i want the democratic organisation to do things that i agree with and therefore i want to vote for people whose plans and beliefs are closest to my own. That means i want to know what each candidate wants to do so i can decide if i agree with them or not. I prefer detailed plans (e.g. implement quarterly all-member emails) to bland statements (e.g. better communication with members). I score candidates who i agree with higher than those i do not agree with, but i score them higher than those that don't tell me anything about their plans.
3 Show me how well you can communicate
A manifesto should contain words and pictures and be eye-catching. Only a small minority of people have access to proper design computer software (e.g. photoshop) but pretty well everyone has access to Microsoft Powerpoint and can therefore produce more than a plain text document. And if the candidate is not that confident using the software then they should use their charms to find someone who does know what they are doing and get them to help produce the manifesto. I want to see a picture of the candidate (to see if i recognise them) and a call-to-action (e.g. "Vote Jon 1st preference").
Taken together, the three aspects give me a rounded view of each candidate and let me make an informed decision about what order to put them in.
Image from http://yourvoiceintheassembly.co.uk/stv/
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