Election-methods mailing list
The election-methods mailing list (or the EM-list) is a mailing list that was started in 1996 and continues to host discussions with electoral system experts and activists.
- Official website: https://electorama.com/em/
Purpose
The list is for discussion of the nitty-gritty details of single-winner election reform, the relative merits of different proportional representation systems, and the technical underpinnings of all election methods. "election-methods-list" discussions tend to be technical in nature (or at least, very laden with jargon), with the ultimate goal of providing recommendations and educational material to the electoral reform movement.
History
The list was started in 1996 by Rob Lanphier.[1][2]. It was started as an unofficial spinoff to the "ER-list", which was more concerned about promoting single-winner STV than diving into the weeds about the theory of electoral systems.
During its first few years, it was on eskimo.com, and was originally a "Majordomo" list. In 2003, the list moved to the newly-formed Electorama.com website on Dreamhost, and transitioned to becoming a GNU Mailman-based mailing list.[3]
The list has been continuously active for close to 25 years and can be found at:
Future
C4ES Election Theory Forum
Now that the C4ES Election-Theory Forum is shutting down[4], this might cause a spike in activity on the EM-list. TBD
25th Anniversary
The 25th anniversary of this mailing list is coming up on Monday, February 15 (2021). That's the 25th anniversary of when User:RobLa sent the first email to the list.
Links
- ↑ First message to the new EM-list on February 15, 1996: http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/1996-February/065327.html
- ↑ Rob Lanphier is "User:RobLa" on this wiki
- ↑ [EM] election-methods list move -- Rob Lanphier, 2003 March 4
- ↑ Announcement from the Center for Election Science: https://forum.electionscience.org/t/alternatives-to-the-ces-forum/699 (author: Felix Sargent, Chair of C4ES)