[EM] N/P Scales

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

Back to elections 101 type material (in connection with the current Approval 
Voting related postings)---

There is a plus N to minus N scale (N scale) for N choices.

+N            0             -N

The zero means neutral (do not care).

Example--
4  3  2   1      -1 -2 -3 -4
    B  C        0   A             E

The scale can be made all positive by having 2N as the maximum but having N 
or less be deemed negative (requiring some education for average citizens).

Such N scale is connected to the plus 100 Percentage to minus 100 Percentage 
scale (P scale) for multiple choices.

+100         0             -100

The zero means neutral (do not care).

Example--
100   90     70               -20         -100
          B      C             0     A             E

The scale can be made all positive by having a 100 maximum but having less 
than 50 be deemed negative (requiring some education for average citizens).

There is also the possibility of tie votes on either scale by each voter for 
2 or more choices.

Various election methods have rather obvious defects when tested on such N 
and P scales.

Simple Plurality assumes a vote (i.e. the 1 and only vote of a voter) is a 
plus 1 on the N scale (having only 1 and zero) and/or a plus 100 on the P 
scale (having only 100 and zero).

Simple Approval assumes all votes are only 1's or zeros on the N scale and/or 
100 or zero on the P scale.

In political reality some choices are obviously more critical than others on 
either scales- 

War or Peace ?
Total government tax/spending levels ?
Shall act/omission such- and- such be a crime ?
Who gets elected by the voters to be members of legislative bodies, executive 
officers or judicial officers ?

Various criteria floating around apparently pick and choose a part of an N or 
P scale to look at (but disregard the other parts) which causes much of the 
criteria confusion (such as which or what majority in truncated vote cases).

The mere existance of the positive and negative parts of the N/P scales is 
why I have repeatedly suggested having simple YES/NO votes on candidates in 
public office elections (especially for executive and judicial offices).

Of course, computerized voting with a simple computer mouse can permit much 
quicker scale voting.