Voter's Choice

[Mike Ositoff]

Voter's Choice:

Each voter votes a ranking, and designates a count rule.

The ballots are counted by each count rule designated. Each
voter, when he designated a rule, meant that he wants to give
a Plurality vote to the winner by that rule.

A Plurality count is held, and the winner of that Plurality
election is declared the winner of the election.

***

So if you feel that a certain rule picks the alternative that's
the best you can get, designate it, and its winner gets your
Plurality vote. And if you think that, by whatever standard
or theory you believe in, a certain method picks the best winner,
then it makes sense to vote that that winner should win.

***

Of course when the vote is about voting systems, there's no
need to designate a count rule, since your 1st choice is your
favorite count rule (unless you're using the defensive
strategy of Margins or IRO  :-)  ).

***

Actually, if I thought Voter's Choice wasn't too much to ask
of the public, I'd suggest it for public elections, and it
would, in my opinion, solve the rank-count debate problem.
But it's a lot to ask for, since people would have to accept
more than just a method. Still, no one would have to agree
on a method...

Mike