Continuous VFM

A better design for voter-funded media may be to vote continuously online and pay media awards monthly, instead of the annual vote design implemented at UBC in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008. VFM voting would thus be conducted separately from election voting.

Potential Advantages:

1. Encourage and support media coverage and citizen awareness of government year-round, not just at election time.

2. Easy to adjust size of award pool to suit time period of media coverage (need not be the same amount every month).

3. More convenient for voters -- vote at any time, revise vote at any time, link from voting page to media pages and back again -- could increase turnout and quality of award voting decisions.

4. The shorter monthly feedback cycle would speed learning by media, voters, politicians, contest designers and administrators. For example, media contestants trying to get votes will also be publicizing the contest to other potential media entrants for subsequent months.

5. VFM can be started at any time of the year.

6. Avoids legal complications of combining media award voting with election voting -- easier to get VFM approved.

7. A monthly contest entry fee would be much lower than an annual entry fee -- easier for new media to get started.

Potential Disadvantages:

1. Startup costs -- building the web voting interface; educating participants.

2. Ongoing administrative costs.

3. Less direct connection to elections -- different people voting on media than in elections -- could reduce turnout for VFM voting -- media may focus less on election and policy issues.

4. Safeguards of election systems -- reconstruct or diminish?

Such an online system could be implemented in WebCT (which recently merged into Blackboard), in a Facebook application, or at a university website.

See Continuous VFM Rules