[EM] Voting Systems wins the poll

[MIKE OSSIPOFF]

The poll on polling topics now has a winner: Voting Systems.
More details on that later in this letter, or in a subsequent one tonight.

I found out how to use my new computer's program editor.

I entered the Cloneproof SSD count program into the new computer.
I went to the program menu, and selected "Run".

A file dialog box was displayed, saying such things as "filename",
"no filename", "disk", "position", etc.

I didn't know what to do with that. "filename" was highlighted, and
so I pressed return, but got only a beep. I tried typing the name
of my program. No result. I tried every key on the machine, and
every reasonable shift & control combination. Nothing.

My new computer's manual gives not one but 3 ways to run a program.

One way uses a nonexistent system screen icon. The other two use
dialog boxes that won't respond to any keypress, or any combination
of keypresses.

I called the manufacturer's support number. They said it isn't a
system problem of their computer, but rather a language problem.
Well, it seems more of a computer system problem, doesn't it.

They didn't have a phone number for the language support, but they
give me a website. I went to that website, and it talks about conferences 
and other kinds of products, but has no technical support
link.

It would seem that neither the seller, nor the manufacturer, nor
the people that the manufacturer referred me to are able to tell me
how to run a program on their computer. Refund-time. The refund will
either be volunary, or will be obtained via lawsuit.

Anyway, it's quite impossible to find out the winners by Cloneproof SSD
and Ranked Pairs(margins), without evaluating 156 pairwise vote totals,
and then, with 78 pairwise defeats, doing the circular tiebreakers
for Cloneproof SSD and Ranked Pairs(margins). That wasn't what I
intended when I included the pairwise count methods in the poll.

Three of us designated pairwise count methods. If pairise-count weren't
available, it's a safe bet that we'd all 3 have designated Approval
or CR. Voting Systems won by Approval & CR. Or for those 3 of us
who designated uncountable methods, we could use the default designation, 
"Manual". Either way, Voting Systems wins.

This has taught me to never include a pairwise count method in a poll
unless I've already determined for sure that I have a computer that
works. Since I can't count those methods, and since it turns out that
Norm, Markus, & Blake can't either, then they're uncountable, and
must be dropped from the poll. As I explained in the previous paragraph,
that means that Voting Systems wins.

If I still don't definitely have a working computer by the time we
vote on Voting Systems, then the Voter's Choice election will only
have these 3 designation options: Approval, CR, Manual. Again, Manual
will be the default option. But tomorrow let's start taking nominations
for the voting systems poll. Let's have nominations & campaign discussion 
for 2 weeks, and then start the balloting exactly two weeks
after the midnight that ends tomorrow, March 5th, in California.

Again, my apologies those other 2 people who designated pairwise-count
methods which it turned out that I don't have a computer to count.

Mike Ossipoff



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