December 2025 - Election-software

The ElectionNews draft newsletter
by Rob Lanphier 30 Dec '25

30 Dec '25

Hi folks, Before I blast this out to a wider audience, I'd like to send my draft to this mailing list. It's included below and at the following link: https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaNews/2025-December I haven't summarized what's been going on on the EM list, which maybe we should. What does everyone thing the most notable discussions have been this month? This year? Rob --------- Happy holidays, y'all! This is the first (and maybe only) version of the *ElectoramaNews*, covering December 2025. Actually, since this is the first edition, this may end up becoming a "year-in-review" newsletter. The newsletter hasn't yet been published (as of 2025-12-05), so it's difficult to say what will be in here. This issue of *ElectoramaNews* provides a basic outline for future newsletters, while sprinkling in some of the news from December 2025. It mainly focuses on online conversations; future editions will hopefully focus more on movement progress. This edition highlights the "ElectoramaCall <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaCall>", a new monthly video call. It also provides a summary of every post to the /r/EndFPTP <https://reddit.com/r/EndFPTP> subreddit in December. Other forums may get more coverage as activity picks up on each of them. Section01 -- Main feature: the "ElectoramaCall" User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> hosted a video call (the "ElectoramaCall <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaCall>") on December 17 with leaders in the electoral-reform space. One product of that conversation was a goal to publish a monthly newsletter. We also resolved to have monthly conversations, which are currently slated for a similar time each month (more on that in a bit). The discussion (at first) was intended to have conversations similar to those in Sass's Open Democracy Discussion <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sass_Open_Democracy_Discussion>, but at a different time of day. Sass's call sometimes enjoys the attendance of an Australian or two, which is easier to imagine when it's noon in Sydney than it is for Europeans attending when it's well past midnight in Paris. However, timezone differences aren't the only reason why some folks hope we have a regular call. There have frequently been debates between the "cardinal camp" (folks that like approval voting <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Approval_voting>, range/score voting <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Score_voting>, and STAR voting <https://electowiki.org/wiki/STAR_voting>) and the "ordinal camp" (folks that advocate for systems that work best with a ranked ballot, like instant-runoff voting <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting> and Condorcet methods <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Condorcet_method>). Many folks in these two camps are deeply disrespectful of folks in the opposing camp, which is something that might get incrementally better if the two camps have mutually respectful discussions with one another on a regular basis. If you would like to join the January call (slated for Wednesday, January 21 at 2pm Pacific Time), please RSVP to User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa>, and he will add you to the meeting invitation. Section02 -- reddit EndFPTP update the /r/EndFPTP subreddit on reddit.com <https://reddit.com/r/EndFPTP> is a very active forum for discussing electoral reform, and frequent posters seem to come from all quarters of the reform movement (both the cardinal camp and the ordinal camp post here). Below Is a list of some of the posts on EndFPTP. As of this writing on December 14, it is a mostly unedited collection of posts pulled from reddit using a vibecoded script along with some haphazard manual coalition and adaptation to MediaWiki format. There are likely gaps in the coverage due to when and how RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> ran the script. - 2025-12-28 14:34:06 [a000] - title: *I built an Agent-Based Model in Python to simulate how Electoral Systems influence Separatism and Civil War risk. Here are the results. (I need you to find the reason for close pr stv)* - body: If you disagree with this conclusion, I’d really appreciate specific, actionable critique: please point out exactly where you think the model breaks—whether it’s in the assumptions, the metric/formula, or the input data. I’m happy to revise the analysis i… ([[1] <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pxsqls%7Cfullbodylen=8929> ]) - user: [[2] <https://reddit.com/u/mercurygermes%7C/u/mercurygermes>]; score: 9 - url: https://i.redd.it/9uthbcu9hy9g1.png - 2 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pxsqls - 2025-12-23 21:47:49 [a001] - title: *Idea: Lazy MMP* - body: Probably not the best name for this system. I’m also pretty sure somewhere already uses/used something like this, but I couldn’t track down where I saw it. Whether it even qualifies as lazy is a question in itself. The system (which can be implemented in … ([[3] <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pu63jn%7Cfullbodylen=1343> ]) - user: [[4] <https://reddit.com/u/Additional-Kick-307%7C/u/Additional-Kick-307>]; score: 1 - url: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pu63jn/idea_lazy_mmp/ - 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pu63jn - 2025-12-22 20:19:47 [a002] - title: *Idea: A framework to convert any single-winner method into PR?* - body: After learning about Sequential Monroe voting <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sequential_Monroe_voting>, I think I’ve came up with a general framework that can theoretically turn any single-winner method (let’s call it *Method X*) into a multi-winner prop… ([[5] <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pt9u3t%7Cfullbodylen=1702> ]) - user: [[6] <https://reddit.com/u/No-Vast7006%7C/u/No-Vast7006>]; score: 1 - url: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pt9u3t/idea_a_framework_to_conve… - 15 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pt9u3t - 2025-12-19 22:28:40 [a003] - title: *Fairness of STV when parties run multiple candidates ?* - body: Edit: thank you to Pantherkittysoftware who pointed me towards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPO-STV which is a system designed to overcome some of the problems I talked about, specifically how STV may result in lone ‘maverick’ candidates being eliminat… ([[7] <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pqyaha%7Cfullbodylen=2674> ]) - user: [[8] <https://reddit.com/u/ravencrowed%7C/u/ravencrowed>]; score: 2 - url: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pqyaha/fairness_of_stv_when_part… - 49 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pqyaha - 2025-12-17 11:44:12 [a004] - title: *My Framework for Electoral Design: Internalize Political Externalities* - body: I believe in the power of the *“invisible hand”*: in many cases, dispersed self-interest can be steered—through institutions and incentives—toward socially efficient outcomes. But this belief has a hard precondition: **external costs must be internalize… ([[9] <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pouhxm%7Cfullbodylen=8959> ]) - user: [[10] <https://reddit.com/u/Previous_Word_3517%7C/u/Previous_Word_3517>]; score: 1 - url: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pouhxm/my_framework_for_electora… - 7 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pouhxm - 2025-12-12 20:40:49 - title: *Utah SD 11 Special Approval Voting Results* - body: Some pretty interesting results. Average of 1.74 candidates approved. In addition, it seems like there were no two clear “frontrunners,” and the winner got close to 50% while having a lead over others, making the results showcase a similar approval for al… ( fullbodylen=300 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pl2k48>) - user: /u/Ibozz91 <https://reddit.com/u/Ibozz91>; score: 24 - url: https://i.redd.it/9ag1zbos3u6g1.png - 11 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pl2k48 - 2025-12-11 16:57:51 - title: *From Texas Gridlock to Utah’s Blueprint: A Tale of Two States and Redistricting Reform* - user: /u/ILikeNeurons <https://reddit.com/u/ILikeNeurons>; score: 4 - url: https://electionscience.org/newsroom/from-texas-gridlock-to-utah%E2%80%99s-… - 1 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pk2m70 - 2025-12-10 22:27:43 - title: *Expert committees purged by low voter turnout* - body: I’ve been working on a thought experiment that uses a novel voting mechanism for accountability. The core mechanic is that expert committees are automatically replaced if a specific measure of public trust falls below a threshold. I’m posting here because… (fullbodylen=1552 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjgm4o>) - user: /u/Agitates <https://reddit.com/u/Agitates>; score: 0 - url: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjgm4o/expert_committees_purged_… - 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjgm4o - 2025-12-10 21:34:39 - title: *Condorcet Cycle in the wild - 2021 Minneapolis City Council Ward 2* - user: /u/Antagonist_ <https://reddit.com/u/Antagonist_>; score: 18 - url: https://ranked.vote/report/us/mn/2021/11/ward-2 - 32 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjfaax - 2025-12-10 20:23:23 - title: *Is there a better way to market Condorcet-IRV hybrids than just saying Condorcet IRV?* - body: I know IRV is also known as Ranked Choice Voting, but what about Condorcet? Or Smith? Or Woodall, Benham, TidemanAlt etc? How would we name them as household names? My guess is to name them “Top Cycle Ranked Choice Voting” but that’s too long. Doesnt soun… (fullbodylen=863 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjdg8w>) - user: /u/SidTheShuckle <https://reddit.com/u/SidTheShuckle>; score: 8 - url: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjdg8w/is_there_a_better_way_to_… - 37 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pjdg8w - 2025-12-10 16:54:43 - title: *Schwarzenegger blasts redistricting ‘war’* - body: He kinda pointed out yhe problem eith FPTP - user: /u/SamsonOccom <https://reddit.com/u/SamsonOccom>; score: 2 - url: https://youtube.com/shorts/72FxgVVmo_I?si=Wg43fClFSOruASVR - 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pj7q8n - 2025-12-09 22:59:40 - title: *Shaky political “science” misses mark on ranked choice voting* - body: In this study, co-author Paul Haughey and I assess the quality and credibility of 41 different studies on RCV. We note a disturbing pattern. A number of misleading studies, including by well-known political scientists, fall well short of real “science.” … ( fullbodylen=888 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pim4fq>) - user: /u/DemocracyWorks1776 <https://reddit.com/u/DemocracyWorks1776>; score: 5 - url: https://open.substack.com/pub/democracysos/p/shaky-political-science-misses… - 4 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pim4fq - 2025-12-06 07:39:42 - title: *Economist article on FPTP: “Britain’s slot-machine politics”* - body: The article is fairly critical of FPTP, focusing on how things get random when you have multiple parties. That’s just one of many criticisms of FPTP, obviously, but a good sign when a newspaper like The Economist is writing articles like this. Behind a p… (fullbodylen=3019 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pfjkgz>) - user: /u/Dystopiaian <https://reddit.com/u/Dystopiaian>; score: 18 - url: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/12/04/britains-slot-machine-politics - 7 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pfjkgz - 2025-12-04 04:05:45 - title: *Score Then Automatic Runoff (STAR) Voting Used For First Time In Election For Public Office to Elect Astoria City Council Member!* - body: “On Monday, city councilors interviewed Conklin and the other applicants during a public meeting. The councilors listened to public comments from attendees and then used a “score then automatic runoff” (or STAR) voting system to narrow the field to the to… (fullbodylen=520 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pdq6h5>) - user: /u/Stunning_Walrus6276 <https://reddit.com/u/Stunning_Walrus6276>; score: 49 - url: https://mailchi.mp/equal.vote/star-elects-astoria-city-councilor - 3 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pdq6h5 - 2025-12-03 13:46:36 - title: *Ranked choice voting outperforms the winner-take-all system used to elect nearly every US politician* - body: When it comes to how palatable a different voting system is, how does RCV fair compared to other types? I sometimes have a hard time wrapping my head around all the technical terms I see in this sub, but it makes me wonder if other types of voting could r… (fullbodylen=360 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pd4la9>) - user: /u/12lbTurkey <https://reddit.com/u/12lbTurkey>; score: 140 - url: https://theconversation.com/ranked-choice-voting-outperforms-the-winner-tak… - 138 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pd4la9 - 2025-12-03 02:19:15 - title: *How do I refute the argument that Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem and the Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem prove electoral systems are the “worst” system?* - body: The person I’m debating claims that *Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem* and the *Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem* prove that electoral systems are mathematically broken and therefore are the worst possible way to govern. His proposed solution is a system w… (fullbodylen=6562 <https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pcrys8>) - user: /u/No-Vast7006 <https://reddit.com/u/No-Vast7006>; score: 7 - url: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pcrys8/how_do_i_refute_the_argum… - 30 comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndFPTP/comments/1pcrys8 Section03 -- Voting Theory Forum update The Voting Theory Forum is a popular watering hole for many folks in the electoral-reform. The activity on this website seems to have simmered down from it's early days (in 2020 and 2021), but there are still frequently notable discussions here. - URLs: - https://VotingTheory.org <https://votingtheory.org/> - News: - (ADD HERE) Section04 -- Center for Election Science updates This newsletter intends to track the major electoral-reform organizations, and the Center for Election Science <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Center_for_Election_Science> (CES) is one of them. CES is largely focused on approval voting as their preferred method, but they support other reforms. One can presumably follow the latest things going on with them by following them on Twitterx.com <https://x.com/electionscience> or by consulting their "Newsroom" <https://electionscience.org/newsroom>. - URLs for approval-voting organizations: - https://electionscience.org - News: - Utah The last thing they mention in their "Newsroom" (as of December 15) is the use of approval voting in Utah <https://electionscience.org/newsroom/from-texas-gridlock-to-utah%E2%80%99s-…> . - Colorado - Manny Rutenel - Maryland - Reintroducing legislation for 2026 - NAACP's call for voting reform that includes RCV/IRV and Approval Voting: - https://naacp.org/resources/states-voting-rights-act Section05 -- FairVote updates Of course, if we're going to talk about big organizations in electoral reform, we have to talk about FairVote <https://electowiki.org/wiki/FairVote>. They also have an x.com profile <https://x.com/fairvote> and a "newsroom" of sorts, from which the latest thing (as of December 15) is an editorial about gerrymandering <https://fairvote.org/why-im-hopeful-about-democracy/> and asserts "*We can end gerrymandering. We can create a nation where every district is a swing district.*" - URLs for RCV/IRV organizations: - https://fairvote.org - News: - ADD HERE Section06 -- Equal Vote Coalition/STAR Action updates The big news for the Equal Vote Coalition <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Equal_Vote_Coalition> and STAR Action is the news from Astoria <https://x.com/5starvoting/status/1997391859983761663>. The EVC/STAR folks have not one but two x.com accounts they post things to: @5starvoting <https://x.com/5starvoting> and @TheEqualVote <https://x.com/TheEqualVote>. - URLs for EVC/STAR organizations: - https://equal.vote - https://www.starvoting.org/ - News: website launches in 2025 - https://bettervoting.com - https://realrcv.equal.vote/ Section07 -- Better Choices for Democracy Better Choices for Democracy <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Better_Choices_for_Democracy> is a new organization that officially launhed in November 2025. They are focused on Condorcet methods <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Condorcet_method>; specifically, what they call "Consensus Choice Voting". The latest news from the BCD newsroom <https://betterchoices.vote/news> is a video editorial from University of Maryland Professor Eric Pacuit titled "*Consensus Choice Explained: Head-to-Head Voting vs Plurality & Ranked Choice <https://www.betterchoices.vote/news/same-voters-different-winners-why-rules…>* ". - URLs - https://betterchoices.vote - News: BCD has launched a new web app for conducting online polls: - https://ccv-app.netlify.app/ Section08 -- Wikipedia updates There has been a lot of editing happening on election-method articles and adjacent articles on English Wikipedia. Here's a few feeds that one can look at to see some of the latest changes: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Electora… - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Psepholo… - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Voting_t… - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/Template:Voting_c… - section08-item01 - (ADD HERE) Section09 -- Electorama/electowiki/EM/ES/abif electowiki <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Electowiki> is still the most prominent wiki associated with electoral reform that User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> knows about (other than English Wikipedia <https://electowiki.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia>). Looking at the RecentChanges feed for electowiki <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Special:RecentChanges>, it would seem that User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa> has been the most active editor in December (as of December 15), but User:Dr. Edmonds <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:Dr._Edmonds> made some changes to the Sequentially Shrinking Quota <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sequentially_Shrinking_Quota> article. Back in November, User:Kristomun <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:Kristomun> and User:Dr. Edmonds <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:Dr._Edmonds> were more active than User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa>, with changes to the "Sequentially Spent Score <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Sequentially_Spent_Score>" article and the "Kotze-Pereira transformation <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Kotze-Pereira_transformation>" article, among others. Also, User:RodCrosby <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/RodCrosby> resumed work on their QPR2 article <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RodCrosby/QPR2>. The election-methods mailing list <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Election-methods_mailing_list> (a.k.a. the "EM list") has seen modest activity in November and December: - November: - http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/2025-… - December: - http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/2025-… The election-software mailing list <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Election-software_mailing_list> (a.k.a. the "ES list") has been pretty quiet, other than User:RobLa <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa>'s promotion of the "Electorama Call <https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa/Electorama_call>" happening on December 17. Activity on ABIF <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ABIF>, abiftool <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Abiftool>, and the ABIF Web Tool (awt) <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ABIF_Web_Tool> has been relatively quiet, though there was a little performance/caching work on awt in November <https://github.com/electorama/awt/commit/1ca34c24c212dbc4cdc04d813ca76be64a…> . - section09-item01 - (ADD HERE) Section10 -- additional items/other orgs - Orgs - Secure Internet Voting (https://siv.org) - Respect Voters Coalition (https://respectvoters.org) - Misc links submitted during ElectoramaCall <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaCall> in December 2025: - Robert Bristow-Johnson's submitted paper for *Constitutional Political Economy*: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jIhFQfEoxSdyRz5SqEjZotbVDx4xshwM/view - One page primer (talking points) on "precinct summability <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Precinct_summability>": https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YtejO54DSOFRkHBGryS9pbKcBM7u1jTS/view - 2022 Letter to Governor Phil Scott of Vermont about H.744 from 2021: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Niss1nWjbsb63rPeKTKLT7S2KVDZIo7G/view - Templates for plausible legislative language implementing Ranked-Choice Voting: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DGvs2F_YoKcbl2SXzCcfm3nEMkO0zCbR/view - Partha Dasgupta and Eric Maskin 2004 *Scientific American* article "The Fairest Vote of All": https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m6qn6Y7PAQldKNeIH2Tal6AizF7XY2U4/view - Articles regarding the Alaska RCV election in August 2022 that suffered a similar majority failure: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/House%20Governmen… - Benham's method <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Benham%27s_method> - Text for tabled bill in Vermont: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.424 - News - (ADD HERE)

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The "Electorama Call" and "ElectoramaNews"
by Rob Lanphier 16 Dec '25

16 Dec '25

Hi everyone! Last week, I announced the "Electorama Call" that is coming this Wednesday: https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa/Electorama_call I didn't get a huge response, but I really like the responses I did get. I would gladly have a weekly (or monthly, or whatever) conversation with all of the folks who have responded so far. To be clear, by RSVP'ing, you're only signing up to join December 17, and I can't imagine that everyone who has signed up for Wednesday will want to join very frequently, but one can hope! As some of you know, I'm a frequent participant in Sass's "Open Democracy Discussion", which is held every Tuesday evening at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific: https://democracydiscussion.com My initial fear was that a second periodic call would end up being a clone of Sass's ODD call. As I've noted earlier on this list, I've started drafting "ElectoramaNews", which I'm hoping I can get around to publishing at least monthly. The December edition is still being drafted here: https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa/ElectoramaNews/2025-December It may be that future editions will basically be lightly edited minutes from a monthly/weekly/whatever "Electorama Call" (or "ElectoramaCall"). TBD. Having a newsletter goal will differentiate from Sass's ODD call on Tuesday afternoons. I'm likely to be a very different moderator than Sass is on their calls. Anyway, to RSVP to the "Electorama Call": please email me personally. The call is going to be on Wednesday, December 17 at 5pm Eastern/2pm Pacific. When you send me email, I'll invite you to the Google Calendar event for the meeting, which will have the link to the video call. If you think you've RSVP'd already but haven't gotten an email from Google Calendar (and especially if the event doesn't show on your calendar) send me an email and I'll make sure you're on the invite list and you get the URL for the meeting. Rob p.s. those of you that are joining the Electorama Call, please join the Electorama Discord, which will be a great place to get my attention if you're having trouble getting on the call: https://electorama.com/discord

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The first (only?) Electorama call: December 17
by Rob Lanphier 03 Dec '25

03 Dec '25

Hi folks, If you closely follow this list (either the EM list or the ES list), you may remember that I somewhat reluctantly suggested a periodic call for electoral-reform advocates that is vaguely neutral with regards to the food fights we frequently have about election methods, but may have a slight bias toward believing the Condorcet winner criterion is very important (if not paramount) among election method criteria. See below for my October message on the subject (both to EM and to ES): - EM: http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/2025-… - ES: https://hio.mailmanlists.us/archives/list/election-software@hio.mailmanlist… After I sent that message to both lists, there wasn't much of a response. Per the conversation several of us had today in a different video call, I'm going to host my first "Electorama!" call on Wednesday, December 17 at 2pm Pacific Standard Time, barring unforeseen complications or last minute rescheduling. Please learn more about how to RSVP and what next steps are here: https://electowiki.org/wiki/User:RobLa/Electorama_call Rob

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