[EM] Non-votes aren't half-votes.

[MIKE OSSIPOFF]

Demorep said:

>As to the margins versus winning votes problem-- there remains the question
>of whether or not nonvotes (i.e. truncated votes) should be deemed half 
>votes
>for each choice in a pairing (i.e. margins would stay the same but the
>winning votes would go up).


I don't know why there would be any question about that.
A non-vote isn't any kind of a vote. A non-vote isn't a half-vote
for anyone. A non-vote isn't a pair of opposite half-votes.

Of course I said this a long time ago when it was being discussed,
but it seemed worth mentioning one more time now.

Now, there's nothing stopping someone from defining a method
so that people who don't express a vote between A & B can
be counted as having voted something that they didn't vote.
But, for the purpose of interpreting pre-written count rules,
one really must go by what the count rule actually says.

Mike Ossipoff


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