[EM] 05/02/02 - The So Called Compromise Candidate:

[Donald Davison]

05/02/02 - The So Called Compromise Candidate:

Alex, you wrote: "One feature that I see in runoff methods, be it top 2 or
IRV, is the ease with which it can eliminate compromise second choices.
Approval and Condorcet tend to give weight to compromise second choices."

There seems to be a mind set among a few on this list that if there is no
majority on the first count then the winner should be the third or lower
candidate, the so called `compromise candidate'.  This mind set first
raised its ugly head for me five years ago when I was looking over the list
owner's web site.  On his site at that time he had an example like the
following:   45 A    35 B    20 C

After which he wrote, and I quote: "There is no majority, therefore
candidate C is the winner."  There were no lower choices nor an explanation
as to how or why candidate C should be the winner.

This perverse mindset seems to say that if the leading two candidates do
not get a majority then the election belongs to the compromise candidate.
It's as if to say, the two leading candidates had their chance and they
lost and now they are out of the election.

I say, all the candidates have had their chances, including the last
candidate, and being as the last candidate has had his chance and has lost,
he is now out of the election - he is to be eliminated.

If you cannot elect your favorite, you have no right to cry for a method
that will elect him for you.  It is understandable that some of you cry for
the Junk Methods because the Junk Methods will at times elect your
unelectable favorite for you, but it's still corruption.

I call Approval Voting, Borda, and Condorcet the Junk Methods because these
are methods that allow a voter's lower choices to harm an earlier choice,
that is a no no.



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

Please be advised that sending email to me allows me to quote from it
and/or forward the entire email to others.






















----
For more information about this list (subscribe, unsubscribe, FAQ, etc), 
please see http://www.eskimo.com/~robla/em