Re: CHAT (POLITICS!!!): Putting the duh in Florida

Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> Hmm. What *is* the literacy rate in the U.S., anyway? <looking around>
Can voters reliably place single-digit numbers in order?

> 'K. I'll see if I can find anything on the mathematics of the
> preferential system that might make it difficult to implement or
> impractical in some situations. Truth to tell, I don't know why any
> nation picks any particular voting system.
OK. Could be interesting.

> Would it still allow cycles? <headache> (Sorry, this is one of those
> sub-areas in math that I am terrible at, despite being a math major.)
No cycles. Every voter has to give a definite first place, second place,
third place, etc.

Incidentally there was a ridiculous law in Australia which is probably
still in place: it is valid to vote 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, ... for example
(i.e. giving tied last-place votes to multiple candidates), the vote *is*
counted, but it is *not* legal to publically encourage voters to do this.

> Also, while some voters would consider these levels of preference a
> *good* thing (I like the idea, but I want to look at the mathematical
> analysis before I say anything else, and I bet there's one out there),
> the entrenched Democratic and Republican parties might not like it if
> it's apt to allow 3rd-party candidates to enter the system more easily.
> <cynical look>
As far as voting systems go, it generally doesn't (although there's a
variant used in Tasmania which does). However, compared to the American
system specifically, it might - I dunno.

> What are possible sophisticated alternatives?
Even a system where voters give +1, 0 or -1 points to as many candidates
as they like would be better than the current American system.

Extending that to giving each candidate -2 .. +2 (thereby classifying
them into 'definately approve', 'mildly approve', 'neutral', 'mildly
disapprove', 'definately disapprove') would capture voter sentiments
very nicely (I think those five categories would describe my feelings
toward any given candidate) but you'd then have to decide how to
interpret the score.

> YHL, wishing that either her comparative government had been more
> detailed, or that she'd been paying more attention
When I was in Year Six, for a whole term we actually arranged the
classroom in the shape of the state Parliament and split into parties,
developed policies and had elections. I was an independent. (Well, with
a personality like mine, that was inevitable...)

Adrian.