[EM] 2-Balloting Approval

[Forest Simmons]

On Tue, 6 Mar 2001, MIKE OSSIPOFF wrote:

> 
> When I mentioned strategies for 2-balloting Approval, where the
> 1st balloting doesn't elect anyone unless they have a vote total
> equal to half the number of voters, or more, from an article
> by Tideman and (I believe it was) Merrill, I should have said
> 
> "In the 2nd balloting, vote for whichever of the 1st balloting's
> 2 frontrunners you like better, and for everyone whom you like better."
> 
> Of course if that more preferred frontrunner came in 2nd instead
> of 1st, then you might want to vote for candidates whom you
> like less than him, but more than the other frontrunner. How far
> down you vote would depend, of course, on what you feel it would
> take to make someone defeat your less-liked of the 2 frontrunners.
> 

But if someone had a better chance of defeating the front runner you
prefer less, wouldn't that someone be more of a front runner than the one
you preferred?

The two front runners are A and B.  You prefer A, but B is ahead in the
polls.  So you vote down to C who is below A on your list of preferences
because you think C has a better chance than A of beating B.  Wouldn't
that mean that A wasn't really one of the front runners?