> Staving Paul Bennet:
>
>> Well, for my money, in an election with multiple candidates, Condorcet
>> voting is the way to go. Each voter ranks each candidate in order from
>> best to worst, and there is a simple algorithm to determine the winner.
>>
>>
http://www.electionmethods.org/
>>
>> There's even a site that will run a Condorcet election for you, without
>> anyone here having to understand or implement the underlying
>> algorithm. I
>> forget the URL, but IIRC it's linked from the above site.
>
>
> Ugh. I think that if a real election were ever held on that basis, the
> results would be widespread dissent. It's far too likely to elect a
> candidate who was nobody's first choice. The theory is that if say 45% of
> the electorate vote for A, 40% vote for B and 15% vote for C, but A's
> supporters prefer C to B, and B's prefer C to A, then you should elect
> C as
> a compromise candidate. But only 15% of the electorate wanted C, so
> 85% are
> dissatisfied.
>
>