[EM] 2 Nov 1999 Cambridge, Mass City Council Election - Summary Results

[Blake Cretney]

On Sun, 29 Oct 2000, DEMOREP1 at aol.com wrote:

> The below is from the 1999 election results (pdf document) link via

--snip--

> Due to the use of the Droop Quota, just under 10 percent of the
> total valid 
> votes were *wasted*.

I'm a little confused by what you mean by that.  Presumably, a ballot
is exhausted/wasted when it normally would be transferred, but it
lists no more candidates.  So, if everyone listed all the candidates
in order, there would be no exhausted votes, no matter what the
quota.  I don't know if the quota has any effect, but isn't the
primary cause of wasted votes incomplete ballots?  

Also, consider that a voter will be less satisfied with the result,
the further down his ballot a winner is found.  He doesn't suddenly
become dissatified when the ballot becomes exhausted.  I may be
over-interpreting your comment, but I've read this kind of thing from
Donald Davison in the past, and I hope it isn't catching on.

---
Blake Cretney