[EM] 06/21/02 - `Majority' is not a valid word on the EM list:

[Donald E Davison]

06/21/02 - `Majority' is not a valid word on the EM list:

Dave K wrote:  "...failure to recognize "majority" as a valid English word
puzzles me whenever I see it."

Dear Dave,

    Best not to use the word `majority' on this EM list, the word has been
corrupted.

    Some of the election methods discussed on this list use more votes
and/or choices in their calculations than there are voters.  It is
possible, in the minds of some, for two or more candidates to have, what is
loosely termed, `a majority'.

    In other words, when two or more candidates each have a number of votes
that is equal in number to what would be a majority of the voters, some
members on this list consider that to be `a majority' for each candidate.

    I do not hold their belief.  My position is that in those methods, a
majority of the voters is not the same as a majority of the votes.
Besides, it is mathematically impossible for a method to produce a true
majority of the votes for any candidate when the votes are twice the number
of voters.
    The exception would be Cumulative Voting for single seat.

    Only on this EM list does the word `majority' need a translation when
it is used.

    Tell us Dave, what is your translation of the word `majority' in the
context of an election?   Is `majority' a number greater than one half?
If so, would that be one half of the voters or one half of the votes and/or
choices?

    Suppose an Approval Voting election with 100 voters, and the results are:
    Candidate A 56 votes,  Candidate B 54 votes,  Candidate C 51 votes

    Would you say that each of these three candidates has `a majority'?

    I suppose if one were to loose their senses one could accept that there
are three majority candidates.  Some do claim that all three candidates
have `a majority'.

    Supporters of Approval Voting will use the code-words `true majority
candidate'.  Which implies that the Approval Voting method is to be the
standard by which all single-seat methods are to be judged and that the
`true majority candidate' of any election would be the Approval candidate.
It follows that the actual `true majority  candidate' would be, can be,
revealed by working the election data according to the rules of Approval
Voting.
    I find all this to be a corruption of logic.


    Anyway, I find it best to stay away from the word `majority' as much as
possible, less someone misinterperts what I am saying.  Talk of `a
majority' and the `true majority candidate' is merely so much gobbledygook.



Regards,
   Donald Davison, host of New Democracy at http://www.mich.com/~donald
                        Candidate Election Methods
   +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
   |                        Q U O T A T I O N                          |
   |  "Democracy is a beautiful thing,                                 |
   |        except that part about letting just any old yokel vote."   |
   |                           - Age 10 -                              |
   +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
    APV   Approval Voting
    ATV   Alternative Vote  aka  IRV Instant Runoff Voting  aka  IRVing
    FPTP  First Past The Post  aka  Plurality
    NOTA  None of the Above  aka  RON Re-Open Nominations
    STV   Single Transferable Vote  aka  Choice Voting  aka  Hare-Clark
          aka  Preference Voting  aka  Hare Preferential Voting

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