[EM] Don't ignore the margins.

[Blake Cretney]

On Wed, 15 Aug 2001 21:35:05 -0000
"Roy" <royone at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Did you ever notice that great thoughts turn to crap once you 
> hit "Send"? Maybe it's just me.
> 
> If one contest is decided by a margin of 60, and two other contests 
> are decided by a margin of 4 each, only a net of 8 preferences would

> be overturned by reversing the two contests, whereas 60 preferences 
> (net) would be overturned by reversing the one. I had neglected to 
> consider the minority vote in those contests.
> 
> Still, choosing the smallest total margin to be the bottom of a
cycle 
> appears to be a good idea.

Methods that sum margins or number of defeats tend to violate
independence of clones.  If you have a victory A>B, and you add a
clone of A, then B is worse off if you are summing.  This is why
methods that use maximums and minimums have always been the most
popular ranked-ballot methods on this list, despite the many changes
in fashion.

---
Blake Cretney