[EM] Re: Rank methods, Participation, Consistency

[Richard Moore]

DEMOREP1 at aol.com wrote:

> Richard wrote in part-
> 
> If we find some ballots containing
> "W>X" and swap those two candidates on those ballots, and this changes
> things so that X beats W, then W is no longer in the Smith set, ***
> ---
> D-
> 
> 51 W > 49 X
> 
> Change 2 of the ballots.
> 
> 51 X > 49 W  
> 
> A mere case of felony election fraud.
> 
> Public elections use the ballots as cast (and NOT with a zillion changes 
> every micro-second with continuous strategy games).
> 
> 

This is a complete red herring and misses the point utterly.

Voters can change their mind about how they vote (if they do it before
they cast their ballot). It isn't necessary to cry fraud, since this is a
purely subjunctive comparison: If Voter #37 had voted this way, instead of
that way, what would have happened? It's important to ask, because if the
voter could have improved his outcome by voting differently (even if that
had required him to go against his preferences), then he will have regrets.

  -- Richard