[EM] What do we mean by "your vote counts"?

[Eric Gorr]

At 5:50 PM -0700 1/23/04, Jan Kok wrote:
>My straw proposal for the definition of "counts" is: "changes the
>outcome of an election".



>So what is Mike really saying here?:
>
>>>>  True, Approval doesn't let you vote all your preferences, but
>>>>   at least it reliably counts all those that you vote. That can't
>>>>   be said for IRV.
>
>
>Obviously he is not using "counts" according to the definition I
>proposed, because in most elections, no one's vote "counts".

The way I interpret his statement, he is.

With Approval and Condorcet, the entire way you vote will affect the 
outcome of an election. With IRV, the only part of your vote that is 
guaranteed to affect the outcome of an election is your first place 
vote.