The de Borda Institute recently gave a demonstration of electronic multi-option preference voting to the Policy and Resources Committee of Belfast City Council. A copy of the report will appear on the site soon.
Their committee rooms are fitted with computers, data projectors and plasma screens, so it was very easy to download our computer program, Decision-maker, and run the exercise described.
The hope is that, one day, soon, the council chamber itself will also be fitted with technologies appropriate to those occasions when our democracy is plural and our debates are multi-optional. On such occasions, the Norwegian parliament uses two-round voting, the Swedish chamber opts for serial voting; and many countries use a form of plurality voting in referendums.
So far, the (modifed) Borda count has not been employed in decision-making in any elected chamber in these islands. The Green Party has suggested this methodology in the Dáil, while two years ago, Lord Meghnad Desai advocated this "rankings" procedure when Westminster was debating the question of reforming the House of Lords, with five options on their agenda. (Hansard, 22.1.2003.) Sadly, his advice was ignored; instead, they took five majority votes, lost the lot, and then said there was a crisis!