[EM] Definition of preferential voting

[Bart Ingles]

I think the problem with such a general term is that there are any
number of concepts which it could describe.  Even if you could decide to
use the phrase as a 'term of art' for one specific concept, you would
have to persuade others to abandon their own usages.

Bart


> Toplak Jurij wrote:
> 
> During the last days the discussion on this list has focused primarily
> on the terminology. Coincidently I am working on a paper that tries to
> define "preferential voting".
> 
> Literature offers numerous understandings and definitions:
> - 'preferential voting' is often used as a synonim for Alternative
> Vote or IRV
> - 'preferential voting' is sometimes used as another name for STV
> - 'preferential voting' is often used to denote 'ranking methods'
> (thus including STV, AV, Borda, etc.)
> - 'preferential voting is often used to denote a preference for a
> single candidate within List PR (this definition is used mainly in
> Europe)
> - mathematicians put first-past-the-post in the group of preferential
> voting schemes, but approval voting is not a member of this group
> - some authors put US primaries under 'preferential voting' (Katz, for
> instance)
> 
> Is it possible to define preferential voting at all?
> I'd be grateful for any comments.