[EM] Election Methods 101

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

Since there are some new EM folks who have a degree of chaos in their recent 
postings I must repeat some elementary points (since the EM list lacks a 
proper FAQ and a requirement that new folks read such FAQ or prior postings 
before posting anything)--

There is absolute support (on a 0 to 100 percent scale) and relative support 
(such as 1, 2, etc.).

Executive and judicial office candidates get or do not get absolute support 
of a majority of the voters.

The use of number votes (1,2, etc.) produces a place votes table--
                Votes in Place
       1        2       3        4       5     etc.
A     A1    A2     A3     A4     A5    etc.
B     B1    B2      B3     B4      B5    etc.
C     C1    C2      C3     C4      C5     etc.
D     D1    D2      D3     D4      D5     etc.
E     E1    E2       E3      E4      E5     etc.
etc.  etc.  etc.    etc.     etc.  etc.    etc.

Each entry (such as E4 is a number of votes).

Unranked choices may be deemed to be in a last place tie.
Example- 
11     B        E     --          --    [A=C=D]

For a single winner office, a choice gets or does not get a first choice 
majority.

The Condorcet method for a single winner office is the limiting case for 
having N winners (such as choosing 5 legislators from among 12 candidates - 
each voter has 1 effective final vote).

An election method must work on the ballots, as cast.

Changing the number and order of ballots is commonly known as stuffing the 
ballot box (with probable different results).

There is a slight possibility of exact clones in large public elections (such 
as 15 BC and 15 CB) (affecting the number of places in a place votes table).