The Dummett quote on IRO

[Mike Ositoff]

Here's what Dummett said, referring to IRO (referred to as
"AV" in Britain and therefore in Dummett's book):

"It [AV, IRO] may easily result in the election of the candidate
who is last but one in the Condorcet ordering, being preferred by
a majority to only 1 other candidate. Quite a small number of
voters may serve to determine which candidate is eliminated at
each stage; this has disproportionate effect on which votes
are redistributed and hence on the subsequent course of the
assessment process. This is the reason for its erratic
character, which makes it impossible to discern anything fair
about it."

Quoted from Dummett, in _Elements of Electoral Reform_, an
important book because it devotes at least 2 chapters to
IRO--that's important because of IRO's popularity among
electoral reformers.

Mike