MOAV "criterion"?

DEMOREP1 at aol.com DEMOREP1 at aol.com
Thu Feb 20 17:57:39 PST 1997


Mr. Saari wrote:
MOAV "majority of all votes" requires support by 51% of all who vote
(assuming yes/no votes).  But I feel there are 3 distinct opinions to be
counted, not 2.  There is 
Yes=support, 
No=opposed, and 
neither-yes-nor-no(blank)=neither support nor oppose, e.g. "neutral" or
"don't care"

MOAV requires 51 Yes votes out of 100 ballots cast.  Therefore, whether a
person votes "No" or (blank) for a given candidate the result is the same.
 MOAV (and many other tallying systems) blur the distinction between
"neutral" and "opposed".
-----
D- It is of course possible to have a Don't Care column---
               Yes      No     Don't Care
A               x    
B                                      x
C                        x

If so, should the Don't Care votes be half yes, half no votes such that a
candidate may have a vote of
40 Yes, 3O No, 30 Don't Care
which would become
55 Yes, 45 No ?

I would not object to having such half votes (it would raise the number of
candidates getting majority acceptability).
Relative rankings (such as A vs. B) would not change with half votes.
 However, half votes would also be an issue in tie breakers (such as the
candidate having the lowest number of first choice votes loses in the tie
breaker).



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