Condorcet(x( ))

[Lucien Saumur]

In a article, seppley at alumni.caltech.edu ("Steve Eppley") writes:

>Lucien, your webpage says it implements Condorcet's method and you've 
>written in the ER list that Condorcet's method in single-winner 
>districts is the best way to elect legislatures.  What do you think 
>now?  
>
>When I looked at your webpage a couple months ago it didn't support
>equal rankings (except maybe for the unranked; I don't recall).  How
>does your program tally the equally unranked, and how will it tally
>the equally ranked when you implement equal rankings?  Are you
>adding .5 to each of the tied pair or leaving their counters alone?

          I think that the Condorcet method, as I
understand it, is usually the best way to conduct an
election for multiple winners as well as single winner.
There may be situations where FPTP and proxy PR may be
appropriate but these are not the situations that one
usually encounters in modern politics.

          I have not modified the article, which is
accessible through my web page, which was written a number
of years ago, and which may not reflect exactly the
evolution of my thinking since then.

          This winter, I have modified my computer voting
and tallying system to incorporate two features:

          1 - to allow voters the option of ranking one or
more groups of two or more candidates as equal.

          2 - to produce, after tally, a list of ranked
candidates.

          When tallying the ballots, the program adds half
a vote to each candidate of the tied pairs. The program
also adds half a vote to each candidate of the pair of
"unranked" candidates, which are deemed to be ranked as
equal. The system allows the voters the option of ranking
no candidate, in which case  every candidate receive half a
vote against every other candidate. My system lets the
voters indicate that one or more or all candidates are
unacceptable while allowing the voters the option of
ranking the unacceptable candidates.

          The candidates are ranked as follows:

          1 - A candidate is ranked if he is not defeated
by any other unranked candidate.

          2 - If two or more candidates are not defeated by
any other unranked candidate but receive an equal number of
votes against each other, they are ranked as equal.

          3 - If every candidate is defeated by another
unranked candidate, then a search is initiated to find the
set of candidates involved in a circular tie (These
candidates are those who defeat each other but are not
defeated by candidates outside the set). These candidates
are ranked as equal. 

          4 - A list of ranked candidates may have any
number of sets of equally-ranked candidates.

          The demonstration version of my voting and
tallying system, accessible through my home page, now
incorporates the first feature but it does not demonstrate
the ranking of candidate after tally. This second feature
is only available in the full version of my voting and
tallying system.

__________________________________________
          aa447 at FreeNet.Carleton.CA
          http://www.igs.net/~lsaumur/