[EM] What is a wasted vote in a STV election??

[Donald E Davison]

Greetings,

     There is some misunderstanding as to what exactly is a wasted vote in
a STV election. So, the questions I will answer are: What is a wasted vote
and what is not a wasted vote.

     A wasted vote is a vote that does not end up on one or another of the
winning candidates.
     There are three different ways in which wasted votes are created:
     1) When a voter does not make enough choices and his ballot becomes
exhausted of choices for the next transfer.
     2) When groups lower the number of votes on their candidates. This
will result in ballots being left over after all candidates have been
elected.
     3) When the rules of the method include the Droop quota. This will
also result in ballots being left over after all candidates have been
elected.

     1) Exhausted Ballots: Most voters in the large elections will not know
the candidates well enough to make more than one choice. We may not like
it, but this is a fact. We should adjust to it. Meek STV will adjust the
quota to allow for exhausted ballots, but this is the wrong way to adjust.
We must allow these people to vote somehow. While they may not know the
candidates, most will know which group they wish to support. An election
method should be designed such that the voter has the two options of
ranking candidates and/or ranking political parties, but that is another
discussion.

     2) Lowering the number of votes: If all the elected members were to
receive a full Hare Quota, that would be 100% proportionality, but the STV
method has a flaw, a weakness. It is possible for a group to place less
votes on a candidate and the candidate will still be elected. The lowest
amount of votes at which a candidate can be assured of being elected is an
amount known as the Droop Quota.
     Now a corrupt person or a corrupt group will consider the votes
between the Droop and the Hare Quotas as being wasted votes, because those
votes are not needed to elect candidate`A". To the corrupt person those
votes should be transferred to help some other candidate of the group.
    Those votes are not wasted votes, those votes are needed on candidate
`A' in order to make the election proportional, but this truth is no
restraint to a corrupt group, who will take advantage of this flaw in STV
and instruct their supporters to vote in such a way as to lower the number
of votes on their candidate `A', thereby freeing up votes to support other
candidates. When this is done it will cause ballots to be left over at the
end of the count, these ballots will be wasted.

     3) The Droop Quota: The term `Droop Quota" is an oxymoron. The word
`quota' means: "The share or proportion assigned to each in a division or
to each member of a body". Droop adds one to the divisor, which makes the
resultant not proportional - not a quota. This also is no restraint to a
corrupt person or corrupt group. The Droop `quota' has been installed as a
rule in most STV elections. This does the same damage to the
proportionality of the STV method, but it does the damage to a higher
level, with mathematical precison. And, it follows that the Droop quota
will leave more wasted ballots at the end of the count.

     So, there you have it:
           Exhausted ballots are wasted votes.
           Ballots left over after the count are wasted votes.

     Votes between the Hare Quota and the Droop Quota are not wasted votes.
     The Droop supporters are taking too much liberty with the term `wasted
votes', but that should be expected, they also take too much liberty with
the words `quota' and `proportional'.

Regards,
Donald

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   |                         Q U O T A T I O N                         |
   |  "Democracy is a beautiful thing,                                 |
   |       except that part about letting just any old yokel vote."    |
   |                            - Age 10                               |
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