[EM] Another article on the Australian controversy

[Rob Lanphier]

Another article on the preference for cash hoopla, this one from the
Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0012/06/national/national9.html

Here's the quote from a Liberal Party member that was dispatched to a
polling station by party leaders:

     "When I got there, they gave me a T-shirt and how-to-vote cards for
     one of the independent candidates and sent me to a booth for the
     day," the member said.

     "I felt bad about it. I don't believe it's fair. I don't believe in
     preferential voting, not after that experience." 

The thing I don't like about this is that Condorcet is just as vulnerable
to this sort of attack.  I suppose this is a good argument against
treating IRV as an acceptable "stepping stone" to IRV; the major parties
still have the power to exploit the system, without truly empowering the
minor parties.  This in turn creates a situation where people sour on the
whole concept of preference voting.

Rob Lanphier
robla at eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~robla