Participation & SARC

[MIKE OSSIPOFF]

>Mr. Ossipoff wrote-
>
>Sure, but how likely is it that it would be so close that those few 
>mistaken
>voters could change the outcome ?
>----
>D- Who says the 2 AB and 2 AC voters are mistaken ?  That is how they voted
>(sincerely or in total ignorance).  A real public election method operates 
>on
>real votes cast (notwithstanding attempts on this list to replay the 
>election
>a zillion times with all sorts of devious strategies by the super smart all
>knowing scheming voters).

If they voted that way in total ignorance, as you say they did,
, not knowing that they didn't need the other candidate, not knowing
that their favorite had a win, that's what I mean when I say they
were mistaken.

I don't know if anyone is saying the voters are supersmart, but
they do vote tactically. They do it all the time. At the risk of
repeating myself, pretty much every progressive voter that you talk
to will tell you about his tactical voting strategy. In fact, in my
experience, it's rare for a Democrat voter to vote Democrat because
he likes the Democrat best, or because he likes the Democrat at all,
judging by what voters have told me. I'm not saying that all sorts
of devious strategies are used, but I'm saying that compromise
strategy is very widely used.


>
>What percentage of the voters is necessary for a close election ? 1/100,
>1/1,000, 1/10,000, etc. ?
>
>How many real elections are determined by one vote ?  My local paper 
>reports
>such elections by one vote on a routine basis with total votes in the 200 
>to
>1000 range.

Sure sometimes in small elections. But you know the really important
elections are our elections for state & national office, where the
real decisions are made. Anyway, when talking about serious problems,
we're mostly interested in ones that occur fairly commonly.

I freely admit that Approval doesn't get rid of the need for compromise
strategy, as Condorcet virtually does. But any method other than
Condorcet won't be as good as Approval by that standard, or by
any other worthwhile standard.

Mike Ossipoff

Mike Ossipoff

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