Re: OT: For information only !

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 21:31:39 +0200, Christophe Grandsire
<christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:

> En réponse à Paul Bennett :
>
>
>>> IRV does have problems, though. Just from a practical standpoint, you
>>> have to keep a copy of each ballot--simple tallying doesn't work. I'm
>>> more of a Condorcet Voting supporter, myself.
>>
>> Yeah. Condorcet rocks.
>
> Just checked it (Google is your friend). Interesting, but the
> complication
> of the system makes it unlikely to be accepted by the voters. With the
> simple run-off system, the amount of votes is what counts, not some more
> or
> less complicated algorithm.
The voters don't need to know anything other than "rank the candidates in
order". With touchscreen voting, that'd be very, very easy. Just drag the
candidates around the screen, putting the most popular ones above the less
popular ones.

> Not that the algorithm may be wrong or not, but
> most people won't understand it and will thus distrust its results (I
> know
> I would, if I didn't understand it, and I'm sure a sizeable amount of the
> population of any country would).
All they need to know about the beatpath process is "the candidate elected
will be the average most popular one". Sure, let the curious pick up a
pamphlet or something, but it really comes down to that simple phrase.

>>  It solves just about every problem you care to
>> mention with both "normal" and IR voting. Trouble is, it's likely to
>> lead
>> to the two-party duopoly being broken, and that means it will never so
>> much as reach committee (or the equivalent stage) in most countries.
>
> In what way is that a bad thing? ;)
It's bad because there are a number of parties out there who suit any
given individual better than the Big Two.

> Well, you may rethink your "most". Most
> democratic countries I know have more than two main parties. Anglo-Saxon
> countries (especially the US) are an exception rather than the rule.
Okay. I guess "most" was an exaggeration. I didn't take all you weird
foreigners into account.





Paul