FairVote is running a poll for Oscars Best Picture using OpaVote. OpaVote allows you to embed a poll in your own website and FairVote is using this functionality to embed a poll in its Oscar Votes 123 blog hosted by blogger.com.

This a great example of the features provided by OpaVote. Note that the poll widget blends in with the formatting of the blog so that you can't even tell that it is a widget.

The primary goal of the OpenSTV project has always been to promote the use of ranked-choice voting by providing tools to make it as easy as possible for organizations to use it in their own elections.

Since 2003, I have been providing the OpenSTV software to allow people to count ranked ballots using methods such as instant runoff voting and the single transferable vote. As of this year, I am now also providing OpaVote which allows you to conduct a complete election from start to finish.

Since first releasing OpaVote in May, I have been working to add new features.

I've been maintaining a ballots page that has all the publicly available ballot data that I know about from government elections. Recently, I added ballot data for the following elections:

• San Francisco 2011
• Pierce County, North Carolina 2009
• Pierce County, North Carolina 2008

In total, I have ballot data from about 50 elections. I have some other ballot data that I have not yet processed into the ballot data format used by OpenSTV.

Note that I was previously charging for downloads of ballot data, but it is now free and you may do whatever you want with it.

I neglected to post the most recent issue of PRSA's Quota Notes newsletter. Here is a list of the articles with links:

• Disappointing 2010 federal elections report
• UK Government proposes using Quota-Preferential PR in House of Lords reform
• Antony Green speaks on UK’s referendum and NZ’s November 2011 plebiscite on MMP
• Melbourne University abandons Nanson’s pioneering PR for a
  plurality system

In this issue (available here):

• Editorial
• Committee meeting held 12 September 2011
• Countback (as we know it) is a failure, by Stephen Lesslie
• Submission to Warringah Council
• Future meetings

Here is an excerpt of the third article as it is of more general interest.

Countback (as we know it) is a failure
by Stephen Lesslie

In the ACT and Tasmania the procedure for countback is that the quota of votes that elected the candidate who has resigned (or died) is re-examined and distributed amongst those candidates who wish to be considered for the position. All other votes cast at the general election are ignored.