[EM] Participation & SARC

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

Mr. Ossipoff wrote in part-

In Approval, there's never a reason to not vote for your favorite.
And, in Approval, there's never a reason to vote for your last
choice. The only reason to not vote for someone is that you don't
want to help them beat someone whom you like more, agreed? Then
you could never have a reason to not vote for your favorite.
The only reason to vote for someone is to help them beat someone
whom you like less. Therefore there's never a reason to vote for
your last choice. So, whatever your strategy is, it's a sure thing
that, if you want to get your best result, you'll vote for your
favorite, but not for your last choice.

If you vote for your favorite, and you vote also for someone whom
you like less, then you aren't changing the order relation of their
vote-totals. If one of them would have gotten more votes than the
other without you voting, that same one will have more votes than
the other if you vote. So your participation can't make your
favorite lose.
----
D -  Another example-

46 A
 2 AB
 2 AC
25 BC
24 CB

99

Using Approval--

A 50
B 51  (25 BC versus 24 CB)
C 51

A has a first choice majority (and is thus a Condorcet Winner).

The example can be expanded with more divisions (i.e. 4 or more choices) of a 
majority and a minority near the majority/minority boundary.

In real elections even polls will have some margin of error such that some 
voters may not vote *the party line* (the decrees of the party bosses or 
candidates on how to vote).