[MR] polling response percentages

[Tatsushu .]

Regarding voting totals, 51.21% voted.  George W. Bush received 47.87% of 
that, which is closer to 24.51% of registered voters actual determined the 
President.  (prior to that it was 24.17%, 23.69%, and 26.74% of the total 
registered voters determined the President*)

Nonetheless, your point on the fact that this is a polling to get the feel 
of the populace (but not a vote by the populace) is well taken, imho.  If 
there needs to be a quorum of the populace before passing matters such as 
this up to Laurel, then it would be handy to have that in writing 
somewhere-50%, 25%, or 1% of the populace.  That would help us avoid wasting 
time sending something up that did not have enough popular support to pass 
Laurel.  However, I can also understand the idea that they want it to be 
'flexible'--it would just be nice to have some sort of goal to shoot for.

As for the polling--I don't recall actually getting a polling, although I've 
moved around enough that I could certainly understand if it just missed me.  
Did it ask only if people wanted the device, or was there also a specific 
way to vote 'No' to the proposal.  I would assume there was.  If we have 
evidence that the poll reached a sufficient percentage of the population, 
and that they could have answered 'no' as well as 'yes' then it seems to me 
that apathy on the part of those who abstain should be held as 
abstentions--neither contributing to nor detracting from the results of the 
votes.  I would personally think that, if the crowns go with it, then the 
question isn't so much 'is there support' as 'is there opposition'.


-Ii, spending way too much time on the computer while on vacation.

*These figures are courtesy of the FEC (Federal Elections 
Commission--www.fec.gov).  Figures represent the perecentage of registered 
voters who voted for the winning candidate.
----Original Message Follows----
Good gentles,

If we are looking at a "polling" as a "voting process", perhaps we should 
look to the mundane office of President of the United States. I believe the 
last election, there were less than 10% of the American people voting to 
elect a leader for our country.

I have been told that in the SCA a "polling" is NOT a vote, and no matter 
what a polling my say, the Crown can make choices as It sees fit. So how 
does this situation differ?

If we treat a Polling as a vote process, wouldn't we then have to ammend our 
SCA law to require some quorum of the total populace when it comes to 
polling respondants? And if a polling is handled as a "vote", then any 
polling might have an automatic number in the guildelines which states that 
"if x number of total responses are not received by the deadline..." and 
whatever the consequences would be.

However, based on what I've learned in my first year in the SCA, it seems 
that this might grind all SCA processes to a halt. What if we NEVER get 
enough people responding - don't we still need to make decisions?

In reading the e-mails about the "poor showing" in the polling responses, it 
appears to me that we are confusing a polling with a majority vote process. 
I don't think these two things should be confused in this manner.

Can one assume that "no response" means people don't care one way or the 
other about the polling issue? And if this assumption is the base of a 
polling, then anyone with an opinion will voice it, yea or nea. And once 
voiced, it is then a Crown issue to resolve and make the decision taking the 
will of the responding populace into account.

Or did I get it wrong?  Am I not understanding the difference between a 
"polling" and a "majority vote"?

In service (even when confused),
Lady Honora le Brun





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