Eye Ball Mathematics

donald at mich.com donald at mich.com
Mon Nov 18 04:18:28 PST 1996


Dear Election Methods List,

     Thank you DEMOREP1 and Mike for answering the queries of my post
called Eye Ball Mathematics. I have studied both of your replys.

     I now understand how this will work in a supposed election:
Suppose I am able to talk my city into using the Condorcet method for the
election of mayor. The election is held and we have a Condorcet winner. If
the officials of the city ask me to prove that this winner is the correct
winner I do the following:

     To verfity that this winner meets the Majority Rule Standard I merely
use head to head pairing on the original election numbers to produce a
candidate that is the indicated majority wish of the voters. I then compare
this candidate to the Condorcet winner candidate of the election. If the
two candidates are the same this proves that Cordorcet elects the candidate
that is the majority wish of the people.

Recap - -

We have a candidate that is the Condorcet winner in the race for mayor.

We have another candidate that is the "implied majority" wish of the voters.

We determined this second candidate using head to head pairing as suggest
by DEMOREP1

The second candidate becomes the "Majority Rule Standard".

If we wish to prove the validity of the Condorcet method we need only to
compare these two candidates - if they are the same candidate then this is
proof that Condorcet elects the majority wish of the voters.

But - -

Is not head to head pairing the same as Condorcet? I am confused.

I have a problem that I hope you are able to answer.

Let me use the same supposed mayor's race: My city will use Condorcet to
elect the mayor. But - the head of the election commission wants me to
present to her, before the election, the following written materials: She
wants the method and/or procedures and/or mathematics on how to vertify
that the Condorcet mayor elect will in fact be the majority wish of the
people. She wants this information so that she will be able to vertify for
herself sometime after the election. She is a control person - she wants to
know everything - she thinks she is in charge.

She has no problem with the Majority Rule Standard. She has a problem with
the determination of this standard. She is asking - How is it determined
which candidate becomes the Majority Rule Standard for each election?

What do I tell her?

I await your reply,

Your servant,

Donald






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