[EM] The wonders of filters and delete keys

[Alex Small]

I think there's a very simple way around the question of expelling people
from the list:

If somebody believes that another person's messages are so odious that he
or she can't stand reading such messages, many e-mail programs offer
filters that will automatically delete messages from specified recipients.
 Those who lack such options can always avail themselves of the "delete"
key, available on standard computer keyboards.



Now, let's get back to voting.....

I've been thinking about how one would introduce Approval Voting for local
non-partisan races.  Many locales use 2-step runoff for some of their
elections.  Many of us here believe that 2-step runoff is worse than IRV
or Approval, but a 2 step election fills the void left by the absence of
party primaries.  If too many people are running for a single office then
some sort of filtering mechanism is clearly desirable.  Since most places
in the US have primary and general elections, a 2-step local race doesn't
really introduce any extra expense to the taxpayers.

Given the desire for a filter, to narrow down the field of candidates and
allow higher-quality debate (remember the GOP Presidential debates in New
Hampshire in 2000?), many people will say "Why not just narrow it down to
2?  The winner is then guaranteed to have a majority."  We can all point
to the Le Pen situation in France, but the guarantee of a majority is a
strong selling point.

So, it is necessary to articulate the case for leaving room for more than
2 candidates in the second round.  Approval Voting can't be plugged until
that case is made.  Also, it is necessary to decide how the _first_ round
will be conducted. One obvious rule should be that if a candidate is the
first choice of a majority then he has obviously managed to stand out from
a crowded field and a second round may be unnecessary.

Another point is that Approval is a very BAD idea for the primary.  Say
that we're narrowing it down to 4 candidates.  The largest faction could
all approve their favorite and the 3 Stooges.  The second stage would
likely include those 4 candidates (although that's not guaranteed, since
the other factions may have partially overlapping preferences), and the
serious candidate would easily defeat Larry, Curly, and Moe.

To sum up:

A single-step election may be undesirable for nonpartisan races.

The public must be persuaded that selecting only 2 candidates for the
final round can lead to undesirable results (e.g. France's Presidential
race).  Here's an issue where many IRV and Approval supporters can agree.

A suitable elimination method must be chosen for the primary race. 
Plurality may be the simplest reasonable method, with a provision that if
somebody wins a majority there is no second round.  Also, perhaps the
number advancing could be left flexible, so that anybody getting more than
N% of the vote goes to the next round (N% might plausibly be 20% or 25%).

After the public is sold on these points, the case for Approval must then
be made.



My conclusion:  The case for Approval is actually more difficult on the
local level than on the state or national level, even though local
campaigns are usually easier to win.  The reason is that 2-step runoff may
have greater inertia than plurality for non-partisan races.


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