Site Selection Is Over

[billroper]

Well, the Worldcon site selection balloting is over and there's nothing left to do but the counting and waiting to see whether we are going to (in alphabetical order) Chicago, Columbus, or Denver. However this works out, it's going to suck in one way or another.

Of course, some ways will suck less than others. We'll just have to wait and see.

Comments

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your Pegasus nomination.

[billroper]

Thanks!

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

So, do they still use the silly-ass ballot-counting method that requires a degree in stats, an army of lackeys, and entirely too many hours?

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Preferential balloting isn't silly; having the highest vote total win even if it isn't a majority is silly.

But anyway, if by "they" you mean OVFF for the Pegasus ballot, no, they don't. They tried asking people to rank their choices one year, but they don't have enough people to count the ballots; even the test year, the winner was just the one with the most first place votes. If by "they" you mean the Worldcon, though, they'd damn well better. This year's site selection is a good example of why. At least, where I live under my rock, I wouldn't be surprised if none of the bids gets 50% first place votes. I'll have a very hard time accepting the result if the wrong city wins even with the preferential rules, but if that wrong city won 35% to 33% to 32%, I would feel even more cheated and therefore be less likely to go.

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

I was stunned by your answer, until something occurred to me -- I'm going to take a wild guess that you're American. If so, then I suggest that the two-party system has deeply effected what you consider "fair"; in the rest of the world, if you have three candidates running and one wins with 35% of the popular vote, that's fair, assuming an honestly-run vote. Having the highest vote total win sounds logical to me -- but then, we've always had at least three different parties running here in Canada.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm American, but if that colors my opinion, I think it's more because American politics has me accustomed to voting against the candidate I hate most rather than for the one I like best, not because of our two-party system (which I hate, and which is entrenched and perpetuated by a non-preferential ballot). If I see a candidate win by 35%, I see a candidate that 65% voted against.

The most important thing about a proper preferential ballot is the "none of the above" choice. No candidate should ever "win an election" without being acceptable -- not necessarily the first choice, but acceptable -- to a majority (at least) of the voters.

[katyhh.livejournal.com]

Ummm, what did I miss, why is it goint to suck one way or another?

[(Anonymous)]

I have friends on two of the committees and sentimental attachments to two of the cities, and I'm not a BNF and well-known SMOF like Roper. He probably has reasons to root for all three (and probably against all three too, for that matter).

that was me

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Damn LJ and their cookie-discarding interface! It detected that it had thrown away my cookie -- so I logged in again and it STILL posted my comment anonymously.

[billroper]

Well, as it's turned out, a Columbus loss is probably going to take them out of the picture for Worldcon bidding for at least a decade. That's a damned shame, as it's an excellent site.

Chicago is likely locked out until at least 2012, due to the stupidly large 500 mile exclusion zone that means that a Kansas City win for 2009 (if we're lucky enough to get one) would prevent Chicago from being on the ballot for 2011. Now, I think a bit of a delay is a good thing, but this would mean having to deal with a vote in Australia (in all likelihood), which is a major PITB.

My understanding is that Denver is still a pretty scattered site. What I heard today was that the hotel attached to their convention center refuses to deal with the Worldcon. That sounds like a joy, doesn't it? But maybe it'll be ok. It'll have to be...

[avt-tor.livejournal.com]

I am not worried about voting in Australia. The strongest committee will have plenty of boots on the ground. People who don't go in person can vote by mail.