Preliminary Elimination when there are too many choices

[Steve Eppley]

[I've cc:ed this to Mike O because he may not be currently 
subscribed.]

Mike has written about 2-ballot methods suitable in certain
circumstances.  Perhaps he's already posted a recommendation for the
following scenario, which is of immediate practical interest for
another group I'm involved in.

The group is planning to hold an at-large vote to pick a new name for 
itself.  So far, 52 names have been suggested.  Because the software 
to ease preference voting & tallying hasn't yet been implemented, 
there will be a substantial labor overhead in processing the voting.
So it's probably desirable to eliminate as many choices as possible
without compromising too much on the integrity of the results.

Another consideration is the precedent the voting will set for the 
group.  Choosing the best name doesn't sound very crucial, but there
may be more significant votes in the future and it would be nice if 
the experience gained in the first vote would be applicable later.

I think what I'm looking for is a 2-ballot method of the form
M///Condorcet, where M eliminates all but a manageable number of
candidates.  But I won't prejudge this.  Anyone have a good
recommendation?

Thanks in advance,

---Steve     (Steve Eppley    seppley at alumni.caltech.edu)