Stan asked after Joe:

I can only divert from in-house tasks for a minute right now,
but quick response to Stan (if Joe already responded and I
missed it, my apologies):

> You didn't say if the negative votes mean anything different
> from their positive counterparts, nor was that deducible from
> your prior example post.

> Is it legal to vote:

>   item #n    -1
>   item #k     9

> total of absolute values: 10

Yes:  Above is legal.

> *and* is that a **different** vote than:

>   item #n     1
>   item #k     9

> total of absolute values: 10

Yes:  Very different....    :-)

> (because the first shows disapproval of item #n, and the
> second shows approval)

Yes again.....:  In totaling all ballots, if 10 people each vote
positive 1 for item #n; and seven other people each vote
-1 for item #n, the "net collective vote" for item #n = +3.  The
+3 total will be what is used to rank item #n against other
items when the polls close at COB 29 March '99.

BTW:  COB 29 March = 17:00 ** EST **.  CSILLC has done
and is doing the work to input and tabulate ballots;  therefore
COB time will be calculated in Joe Geiser's time zone....
Seems only fair, since Joe did all the work to set up the app
and make it available on the web (thanks, Joe !!)....    :-)

HTH,
Ken Sletten
SIGIMAGE Chair