RE: Problems with Voting
From: Rob Sandelin (floriferousmsn.com)
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 08:10:17 -0600 (MDT)
Voting can be done using a totally collaborative spirit and process, the
only difference is that after all the discussions and amendments, you vote
at the end. One of the things voting DOES give you is a way to shut off
people who abuse consensus process for personal power. The, I will block
this and shut down the group if I don't get my way, sort of approach is
deflated when voting can and does over ride them. I have seen many many
groups gets completely derailed by power trips, misplaced personal values,
and even deliberate destructive uses of consensus. A group of violent
anarchists took over a local greenpeace office for a bit using blocking of
all agreements as a tactic. After a week (which was very generous) the
backup voting process sent these folks packing. Sometimes you need to make
it clear to ego-drivers that compromise is something THEY have to do too.
Being able to vote your way past a deliberate misuse of consensus blocking
is a VERY important part of successful process.

In my experience consensus also regularly fails in decisions with no best
choice only personal preferences. Is blue or green the best tile color for
the bathroom? 30 adults consenting on this choice often means, those with
the strongest opinions get their way, the rest don' care and stand aside. If
two people with strong opinions, blue or green, butt heads, the effort/time
expended on consensus might be considerably more than the decision is really
worth.

Large complex multi-facetted decisions, like budgets for example, can also
be difficult to reach consensus upon.

And if your large group process does not work well, deciding small things
like what to plant in the garden, or how many forks to buy can eat up hours
of time which might be better used for other things.

Rob Sandelin
South Snohomish County at the headwaters of Ricci Creek
Sky Valley Environments  <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous [at] msn.com


-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of Racheli Gai
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2003 5:58 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_Problems with Voting



I agree with the point that voting doesn't *necessarily* entail ignoring
those with differing views.  However, it makes it
very easy to do so.  People who find it hard, even when using  consensus,
to listen and acknowledge the validity of opposing opinions, are much less
likely to worry about that sort of thing when they have the numbers on
their sides.

I've worked with at least one organization which used Robert's rules.  It
seemed to me that the system allowed amazing level of manipulation by
those "in the know".  My impression is that it wasn't unique to that
particular group.   I "vote" for consensus ! :)

R.



--
-----------------------------------------------------------
racheli [at] sonoracohousing.com (Racheli Gai)
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