[EM] Sports and 'The Condorcet Mindset'

[Narins, Josh]

The problem is math doesn't have a function for

if (X is a scab-picking liar) { }

Borda only works if the community is small enough that it can shame or
otherwise punish liars.

For instance, if you vote for someone last who happens to win, you get an
arm chopped off.

:)

In secret balloting at even all State levels and higher, Borda encourages
dramatic incentives to LIE.

Math doesn't put a value on that, but I don't want to ENCOURAGE people to
LIE.

There's enough of that, already :)

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Small [mailto:asmall at physics.ucsb.edu]
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 2:59 AM
To: election-methods-list at eskimo.com
Subject: Re: [EM] Sports and 'The Condorcet Mindset'


> I may be wrong, but I think Dr. Saari's focus on symmetry is partly a
> product of the  difficulty of discussing nonlinear dynamics to a general
> audience.  My impression (I  have not attempted to read his work) is
> that Dr. Saari's support for Borda is based  on solid mathematics.

Picking criteria for accepting or rejecting methods must involve some
subjective judgements.  Saari uses solid math to elucidate various
properties of election methods.  He is 100% correct in pointing to certain
properties and saying "Borda has it, the others don't."  In that sense
Saari's work is solid.

However, whether or not the things that Saari points to are sufficient for
picking a method is another story.  Let us assume for a moment that all of
the geometric properties favored by Saari are socially desirable.  If
voters are honest then Borda is a socially desirable method.

However, because Borda gives huge incentives to vote insincerely in almost
every race, Borda is unable to achieve its stated advantages.  Granted,
all methods are prone to strategic voting, but some are more prone than
others.

I could go on, but the point is that Saari is 100% correct on the math,
but whether or not the method is desirable is still debatable.  As a
physicist I could solve equations to show that nuclear energy is great as
long as nothing goes wrong.  However, once something goes wrong new
questions arise.  (As an aside, I actually like nuclear energy, but that's
another story.)


> Borda may be a very good method for those unusual  situations where all
> voters can be expected and required to competently fully rank  all
> candidates.  Approval, Condorcet, and IRV don't require that all ballots
> provide  complete rankings and therefore are not in direct competition
> with Dr. Saari's less  than fully practical Borda.
>
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