Legality of "inverting" ballots by Condorcet.

[Buddha Buck]

DEMOREP1 at aol.com writes:

> In a message dated 7/5/01 3:42:44 PM, Buddha wrote:
> 
> (34:65) Anderson over Cleveland) (*)
> ***
> Or some such.   Please point out the election fraud in such a report.
> 
> D- The fraud - the rather obvious and blatantly false *Anderson over 
> Cleveland* conclusion certainly detectable by the 65 voters who voted for 
> Cleveland over Anderson.

I see no fraud there.  I see a documented election procedure being
followed, and accurately documented.  Or did you not notice that the
election results I posted stated -SEVERAL- times that the election had
to be determined based on clearly marked inverted ballots?  I stated:

1) There was no clear Condorcet winner
2) That A beat B 66:33, B beat C 67:32, and C beat A 65:34
3) That because of this, the smallest defeat (C beat A) was inverted
4) In the revised table of defeats, I listed A beat C 34:67.
5) I put parenthesis around the anomalous, but accurate, vote tallies
for the inverted defeat
6) I footnoted the inverted defeat as being inverted.
7) The original ballots were available for inspection -- and there is
a challenge process available to candidates who dispute the results.

I fail to see how any of that is fraudulent.

Yes, the claim that Anderson beat Cleveland 34 to 65 does not
accurately reflect a traditional interpretation of the ballots, but it
isn't fraudulent in context, the context being an election conducted
under Condorcet's rules with no clear Condorcet winner.

This is no more fraudulent than claiming in the second round of an IRV
election that particular ballot that physically shows A>B>C>D has a
first-place vote for B, since A was eliminated in the first round.


> 
> Long ago I suggested using both a YES/NO and number votes.
> 
> For executive and judicial offices, only candidates getting a majority YES 
> vote should go head to head (using the number votes).

Out of curiosity, what should happen if none of the candidates has a
majority YES vote?  What incentive do I, as a voter, have to not bullet-vote?