Re: [election-services] Fw: EML and ranked-choice elections

[Richard J Cardone <richcar@us.ibm.com>]

John and David,

>Election administration is difficult due to the dizzying
variety of special rules and constraints imposed by the client organization.
 Customization is required in nearly all cases, and the above point
is just one >example.  The architecture of EML is quite restrictive
in nature, making it very difficult to conform to.  It could, at least,
make much more generous use of the "any" elements.  I need
EML to be a true language, >and not just a rigid and steeply hierarchical
data structure - that is, with a vocabulary and some rules of grammar for
assembling simple elements into more complex structures that a standards
committee will not >be able to anticipate or keep up with.  If
this were the case, I think EML could be much more widely applicable.  I
think this is possible to achieve in an XML schema, but I think it would
require a change in >course.

The change in course suggested above
by Dave Robinson may or may not be practical, but it's probably worth hearing
out if for no other reason than Dave is an actual EML user.  Maybe
Dave would be willing to take an existing EML schema as an example and
show how it could be refactored to increase its modularity and flexibility.
 When would then have something concrete to discuss. 

Rich