Introduction

Wilson’s Fountain (WF) is an innovative way to use the American political committee system to nominate candidates that truly reflect popular sovereignty. It does this through the creation of a free and equal nominating system that operates outside of public primaries. Pushing WF beyond its current “Proof of Concept” phase will require a multitude of in-depth research projects on subjects related to the creation and implementation of the WF Committee System. This paper will focus on four voting methods (Ranked Choice Voting, Approval Voting, “Pick Two” Voting and STAR Voting) and how they would fit into the second round of the nomination process. 

Nomination Process 

WF’s free and equal nomination process is designed to quickly whittle down a large field of potential nominees while greatly enhancing the constituent experience. It will take place over three separate rounds: the multiple-step endorsement round, the virtual town hall and the debate round. All nominee selection, campaigning and regulation will occur through a specially designed app. This paper is intended to illustrate which voting method is best suited for the virtual town hall round. For the purpose of clarity, a synopsis of each round is provided below. 

Endorsement Round

The endorsement round will take place over the span of one month. During this round, it is expected that there will be a relatively crowded field of potential nominees (PNs). Constituents will have an unlimited number of endorsements that they can give to whichever PNs they approve of, with a limit of one endorsement per PN. Elimination will occur through a series of pre-determined cutoffs; if a field begins with 20 PNs, the first cutoff will reduce the field to 10 and the next to 4, resulting in a relatively seamless process. If a PN has not achieved the required ranking on the endorsement leaderboard by the pre-determined date, they will be eliminated. 

It should be noted that the above description is a unique form of approval voting. This is important because AV tends to have a moderating effect on fields of candidates, eliminating those on the fringe of the political spectrum and promoting those in the middle. 

Virtual Town Hall Round 

This round will occur once the number of PNs in the field has been reduced to four. The round will begin with a “virtual town hall” where PNs will answer specific questions from constituents in 30 second videos to be released publicly. After the town hall, constituents will have a short period to select their favorite PNs using one of the selection methods outlined below. The town hall round will narrow the field down to two PNs in preparation for the next round. As such, the evaluations below concern advancing two PNs rather than a single winner.

Debate Round  

The top two potential nominees from the previous round will square off in a debate moderated by members of the local nominating committee. Constituents will then select the PN who will go on to become the candidate nominated by the contest using a traditional “pick one” voting method.