[EM] Approval & UUCC

[MIKE OSSIPOFF]

When I first defined UUCC here, I said that Approval meets UUCC
except under certain implausible conditions. But since then
I've realized that Approval meets UUCC under all conditions,
plausible and implausible.

I still don't know if Condorcet or other pairwise-count
methods meet UUCC.

IRV, Plurality & Borda fail UUCC.

Why don't I re-post the definition here:

Unanimously Unpreferred Candidate Criterion (UUCC):

If everyone prefers X to Xc, then there should never be a
situation where Xc wins, and where if one voter changed his ballot
so as to no longer vote Xc over X, that would cause the election
of someone whom he likes less than Xc.

I'm sure you've heard in all the media, people saying that
Nader doesn't have a chance, with that being given as a reason
to vote for Gore instead. But have you ever spoken to someone
to whom Gore is favorite? All the Gore voters I encounter are
voting for Gore instead of Nader only because Nader "doesn't have
a chance". Maybe there are a few people who like Gore better than
Nader; I haven't met one. What an inexcusable situation.

If, as seems to be the case, nearly all Gore voters prefer Nader,
then Nader would have a better chance than Gore if people
voted sincerely. Nader is splitting the vote? Votes for Nader are
sincere--Gore's the one who is splitting the vote, when
people insincerely desert their favorite. The "spoiler" is the
one of those 2 candidates who is less legitimate, the one who
has less business running, the one whom people only vote for
by holding their nose.

Maybe some or many Bush voters really like Bush best, and maybe
some of them even like Gore better than Nader, since Gore is
so much more like Bush. If so, then it isn't really a fully
UUCC election, though it's almost as absurd.

UUCC brings out the fact that, with Plurality, IRV & Borda,
Gore could still win even if _everyone_ prefered Nader to Gore.
So this partially UUCC situation is easy for methods like Plurality,
IRV & Borda to create, and it could easily happen every time.

Mike Ossipoff






_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at 
http://profiles.msn.com.