Regarding the voting system, I think there's a good compromise between alternative vote and plurality vote. And it's not complicated either. First of all you get three votes that you can freely award to the candidates, the only restriction being that you can't award more than two to the same person. If you only want to support one candidate, you wouldn't have to use your third vote. We're working with that system in a different political simulation and it has worked out very well so far. There is more diversity and you can honor good campaigns (or good work) better.