US 5,400,248 AGranted

Computer network based conditional voting system

AssigneeJohn D. Chisholm

InventorJohn D. Chisholm

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Abstract

A voting system allows voters to express and cast votes that are conditional on the votes of others of a voting group. Votes may be conditional on the votes of specific individuals, on the number or percent of the overall group who vote a certain way, external events or on any combination thereof. The system solves the "common goods, free rider" dilemma in which voters oppose proposals they recognize as worthwhile out of fear that a few supporters will be burdened with all of the costs. The system specifies and enforces terms under which conditional voting will take place, and may manage the voting process across a network. The system recognizes when either multiple solutions or no solutions to a set of votes exist. The system can determine which voters are responsible for these cases, and can invite them to change their votes, if they wish. The system can also determine the largest subset or subsets of a group of conditional votes that has no solution, for which there is a unique solution or multiple solutions. Overall, the system leads to better and faster group decisions that are based on more complete voter knowledge than simply yes, no or abstain.

Claims39

Dependent claims

A voting apparatus using a computer system for processing and reporting votes of voters, said voting apparatus comprising:

means for inputting a proposal and a set of terms into said computer system, wherein said inputting means are electrically coupled to said computer system, wherein said proposal requires voting by a group of voters;
a plurality of voting units electrically coupled to said computer system for inputting said votes, each of said voting units comprising a switching means for transmitting voter input signals to said computer system, wherein said voter input signals are selected from a group comprising a first form and a second form, said first form being a conditional input and said second form being an unconditional input;
means for processing each of said voter input signals to determine corresponding computed value signals, said computed value signals selected from a group consisting of:
a first computed signal having a unique value;
a second computed signal having multiple values;
and
a third computed signal representing no solution;
means for applying said set of terms to the first, second and third computed signals to determine a set of results, said set of results selected from a group comprising at least:
a total of said first computed signals of a first type and of said second computed signals of said first type, wherein said first type is an affirmative value;
a total of said first computed signals of a second type and of said second computed signals of said second type, wherein said second type is a negative value;
a total of said first computed signals of a third type and second computed signals of said third type, wherein said third type is an abstention value;
a first solution comprising all values in a first set having the largest total of the first computed signals of said first type and of the second computed signals of said first type;
a second solution comprising all values in a second set having the largest total of the first computed signals of said second type and of the second computed signals of said second type;
a first series of solutions comprising a plurality of first ordered sets, said first ordered sets being arranged according to the sum of the number of first and second computed signals of said first type;
a second series of solutions comprising a plurality of second ordered sets, said second ordered sets being arranged according to the sum of the number of first and second computed signals of said second type;
a third series of solutions comprising a plurality of third ordered sets, said third ordered sets being arranged according to the sum of first and second computed signals of all of said types;
and
a display means for presenting said results.

15 more elements

A method of voting using a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

inputting a proposal and a set of terms into the computer system;
displaying the proposal and the set of terms on a plurality of voting units;
inputting voter input signals into said voting units, wherein said voter input signals are selected from a group comprising a first form and a second form, said first form being a conditional input and said second form being an unconditional input;
transmitting the voter input signals from each voting unit to the computer system through an electrical network;
processing each of said voter input signals to determine corresponding computed value signals, said computed value signals selected from a group consisting of:
a first computed signal having a unique value;
a second computed signal having multiple values;
and
a third computed signal representing no solution;
applying said set of terms to the first, second and third computed signals to determine a set of results, said set of results selected from a group comprising at least:
a total of said first computed signals of a first type and of said second computed signals of said first type, wherein said first type is an affirmative value;
a total of said first computed signals of a second type and of said second computed signals of said second type, wherein said second type is a negative value;
a total of said first computed signals of a third type and second computed signals of said third type, wherein said third type is an abstention value;
a first solution comprising all values in a first set having the largest total of the first computed signals of said first type and of the second computed signals of said first type;
a second solution comprising all values in a second set having the largest total of the first computed signals of said second type and of the second computed signals of said second type;
a first series of solutions comprising a plurality of first ordered sets, said first ordered sets being arranged according to the sum of the number of first and second computed signals of said first type;
a second series of solutions comprising a plurality of second ordered sets, said second ordered sets being arranged according to the sum of the number of first and second computed signals of said second type;
a third series of solutions comprising a plurality of third ordered sets, said third ordered sets being arranged according to the sum of first and second computed signals of all of said types;
and
presenting said results.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.