Comment/Wish 1: VotingValueType description and restriction

[David-Rosenberg@earthlink.net]

Comment/Wish 1: VotingValueType description and restriction

VotingValueType is currently restricted to "positiveInteger". In Range
voting, the voter assigns a rating to a candidate, indicating how
satisfied that voter is with that candidate. The range is usually from
zero to some maximum value. Zero is often a legitimate rating (and is
not the same as not assigning any rating). In order to permit a zero
value, the restriction should be changed to "nonNegativeInteger".

If Technical Committee experts feel that it is not acceptable to
change VotingValueType to permit a zero value, then another
alternative is to use the "Value" attribute (of type VotingValueType)
to hold the ranking in ranked preference elections and to use a new
attribute, perhaps named "Rating", of a type permitting
"nonNegativeInteger" to hold the rating for a Range voting election or
the number of points for a Cumulative election with points.

If you decide to change VotingValueType to permit a zero value, then I
suggest replacing the current description, "The weight or preference
applied to a selection" with the following expanded description:

"VotingValueType:
For Preferential voting systems (such as Instant-Runoff, Single
Transferable Vote, Condorcet Method, or Borda Count): an integer
ranking with a value from one up to the number of candidates.
For Range voting systems: an integer rating from zero up to some limit
defined as part of the ballot definition.
For Cumulative voting with points: an integer number of points from
zero up to some limit defined as part of the ballot definition."

If you decide to leave VotingValueType as a "positiveInteger" and
introduce a new attribute that can be a "nonNegativeInteger", then it
will be necessary to modify the schemas so that the Candidate element
can have the new Rating attribute whenever it can have the Value
attribute. In this case I suggest the following descriptions for the
VotingValueType and the VotingRatingType:

"VotingValueType: For Preferential voting systems (such as
Instant-Runoff, Single Transferable Vote, Condorcet Method, or Borda
Count), an integer ranking with a value from one up to the number of
candidates."

"VotingRatingType:
For Range voting systems, an integer rating from zero up to some limit
defined as part of the ballot definition.
For Cumulative voting with points, an integer number of points from
zero up to some limit defined as part of the ballot definition."