[EM] Approval Voting vs Instant Runoff Voting:

[Martin Harper]

LAYTON Craig wrote:

> The point is that,
> even given a significant amount of information on which to base one's vote,
> it is still difficult to divine how to vote in approval.  So far, two
> people, both highly intelligent and with a thorough understanding of voting
> systems, have decided to vote in two separate ways, given the same
> information, preferences and expected utility outcomes.  I suspect the rest
> of the list would be similarly divided, if not the populace as a whole.

Why is this a disadvantage? In the example you gave, risktakers will 
vote A, and those who want to play safe will vote ABC. This is precisely 
the sort of information we want to measure in an election - Are you 
willing to risk the 0 of D to get the 1 of A? If you are then electing D 
won't be as painful as if you would prefer to compromise on ABC just to 
keep out D.