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csziggy

(34,120 posts)
Mon Jun 10, 2019, 12:07 PM Jun 2019

You don't like the Electoral College - how about THIS method of selecting a leader?

From "The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books" by Edward Wilson-Lee, about Hernando Columbus who was in Venice in 1521 when a new Doge was being 'elected':

This observance being done, the election of the new Doge could commence - though perhaps 'selection' is a better word for the long series of lotteries and ballots put in place to safeguard the process from corruption. Venice was a republic, yet its electoral process was far from wholly democratic: only members of the Great Council, consisting of 2,500 or so male members of ancient Venetian families listed in the so-called Golden Book, could participate. From this body thirty were chosen by lottery, of whom none could be related, and then these thirty were further winnowed by lot to a Committee of Nine; the Nine elected forty more, who were reduced to a Committee of Twelve by lot, and given the chance to elect twenty-five more; they in turn were reduced to nine and elected forty-five who were reduced by lot to a Committee of Eleven. The Eleven chose forty-one, none of which could have been on the previous electoral committees (the Nine, the Twelve, and the Eleven), who (finally) elected the Doge. At each of these stages each of the candidates had to carry a healthy majority of the vote. The design of the system made it incredibly difficult to rig, because of the lotteries and the rules to prevent any one person (or family) from participating at different stages of the process, and also because it was so complex it would be hard to know where to start. All the same, in 1521 it was floated during the election to double the number of electoral steps, just in case. This was the mode that Venice, the mercantile republic, par exellence, had developed to inoculate itself against the monopolisation of power. pp219-220

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You don't like the Electoral College - how about THIS method of selecting a leader? (Original Post) csziggy Jun 2019 OP
Imagine the real-time election coverage Codeine Jun 2019 #1
OMG - and the comedy sketches! csziggy Jun 2019 #2
Well, why would you need to rig when the only allowable selections... ret5hd Jun 2019 #3
Oh, I am sure in that 2,500 men, there were plenty of competing factions csziggy Jun 2019 #6
Or whoever gets the most votes... crazy idea I just came up with Takket Jun 2019 #4
This doesn't surprise me at all FakeNoose Jun 2019 #5
Now that's customerserviceguy Jun 2019 #7

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
2. OMG - and the comedy sketches!
Mon Jun 10, 2019, 12:28 PM
Jun 2019

It would be worse than following a sport that winnows down the competitors to the final two! (I don't follow sports so I am not sure what those charts are actually called.)

ret5hd

(20,435 posts)
3. Well, why would you need to rig when the only allowable selections...
Mon Jun 10, 2019, 12:44 PM
Jun 2019

thru every stage were your friends and peers.

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
6. Oh, I am sure in that 2,500 men, there were plenty of competing factions
Mon Jun 10, 2019, 01:02 PM
Jun 2019

The Doge who had just died, Leonardo Loredan, had involved Venice in two major wars - with the Ottoman Empire and the League of Cambria. Venice was at a crossroads - the League of Cambria blocked it's expansion and the Ottoman Empire blocked trade with Eastern Asia, especially the spice trade. Also Venice had been excommunicated due to political problems with the Pope.

Since it appears that Venice's power was reducing at the time, various factions would have been competing for their version of the future of the city-state to take control.

FakeNoose

(32,356 posts)
5. This doesn't surprise me at all
Mon Jun 10, 2019, 12:57 PM
Jun 2019

For funsies, some day read up on how they used to elect Popes during the Middle Ages. There really never has been any such thing as "democracy" - it's purely a utopian concept.

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