[EM] (Fwd) STV and truncation

[Rob Lanphier]

On Sun, 31 Mar 1996, Steve Eppley wrote:
> I'm not sure what you mean about the fringe candidates getting votes.
> They wouldn't get votes of people who truncate them away.  Do you think
> the fringies would be truncated away less than other candidates?
>
> Perhaps you misunderstood my poorly written paragraph.

Well, no, actually, I wasn't thinking too clearly yesterday.  It isn't
nearly as bad as I made out earlier, I don't think.  The problem that I
can see though, is that it in essence gives someone more than one vote.
Here's an example.

Candidate A needs 40 votes to make quota.  He gets 50, broken down as
follows:
40-A
10-A,B

Now, under your improvement, all 10 votes excess votes that actually have
a second candidate ranked would go to B, even though only 20% of A's
voters voted B.  Would the 40 voters be forced to put down a NOTA option
just to make sure that the fraction they are entitled to doesn't go
to B?

Let's say B had 40 votes prior to the transfer, broken down as follows:
30-B
10-B,C

Now, the 10 votes from A transfer to B, and B's 10 votes with a second
preference transfer to C.

I probably haven't gotten enough sleep prior to posting this, but do you
see my point?  The 10 votes could get a long way from home unless we stay
true to many voters' intention *not* to have their vote transferred.

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