I missed the first deadline for proposals for submissions to the review, but now that the Proposals Paper has been released, it has focused attention on a smaller number of issues. With Michael Fowlie (current COMPSCI 380 project student) I have made a submission based on simulations of what we hope are “realistic” elections. We find that the party vote threshold should be lower than the 4% recommended by the commission. I have been told by the EC that our submission will be an appendix to their report due out on 31 October. It will be interesting to see a) their recommendations b) whether they lead to any actual change.

Addendum: our submission appears as Appendix D in the commission’s final report to Parliament. They went with the 4% recommendation in the end.