[EM] 12/30/02 - Alex, Irving still holds the Trump Card:

[Alex Small]

Narins, Josh said:
>>  the expense of implementing ranked ballots.
>
> Cheapskate! (just ribbing you, Alex, but I am making a point here)
>
> How valuable is a Democratic Republic? How valuable is an Aristocratic
> Republic (the kind where we chuse, by elections, our "leaders").

I agree 100% that we should spend whatever is necessary to have good
elections.  However, if we have two ways to achieve the same end and one
costs less than the other, I'm all for saving some money.  Donald contends
that Approval and IRV give the same result in a wide range of cases, so I
say we should achieve that result with less expensive but equally reliable
(in the sense of no hanging chads, etc.) equipment.

As to Adam's point that IRV, Approval, and Condorcet all give the same
result in the case of 2 strong front-runners:

Say we have

40% Left>Center>Right
11% Center>Left>Right
 9% Center>Right>Left
40% Right>Center>Left

IRV selects Left, Condorcet selects Center, and Approval can select any of
the above depending on the choices of the voters, although Right is the
least likely outcome.



Alex


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