Anyone who complains that the Electoral College used by the United States of America is too complicated should take a gander at the method employed by the Republic of Venice to select its Doges.
Step 1: The Grand Council (sort of a House of Representatives, except that membership was by invitation rather than election) would snatch a kid off the street and stand him up next to a big urn full of wax balls, some of which contained slips of paper. Then the members of the Council would file past and the kid would hand them each a ball, until thirty men were chosen.
Step 2: Those thirty would then circle around again, drawing lots until nine of them were selected.
Step 3: Those nine chose forty names from the membership of the Council. Each name required the approval of seven of the nine.
Step 4: Those forty then drew lots to reduce their number down to twelve.
Step 5: The remaining twelve then selected twenty-five names from the Council, requiring a vote of nine to approve each one.
Step 6: Those twenty-five then drew lots again to reduce their number to nine.
Step 7: The nine chose forty-five members of the Council.
Step 8: Those forty-five were reduced by lot to eleven. At this point, the poor kid at the urn was probably near tears, so I assume they'd give him a cookie and send him home.
Step 9: The eleven men compiled a list of forty-one electors, each name requiring at least nine votes to get on the list.
Step 10: The forty-one electors chose the Doge, by a majority of at least twenty-five votes out of the forty-one.
If this system seems over-complicated, keep two things in mind:
1.) It was intended to eliminate the influence of parties and factions, and
2.) It worked for 529 years.
If you like complicated plans with political overtones, check out the two science fictional caper stories in my new ebook!
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