[EM] Educative Alternative Voting board...

[James Green-Armytage]

Dear Mr. Augustin,

	A few quick replies. First of all, that you for your work on educating
people about Condorcet and alternative voting methods in general. It is my
hope that eventually this issue won't be so obscure.
	Second, I find it a bit confusing that you refer to the simple
whoever-gets-the-most-votes-wins method as "majority." I am more
accustomed to calling it "plurality." Another name for it is "first past
the post." I think the term "majority" is misleading, because it is quite
possible for a candidate to win without a majority of the vote. Indeed,
this is the root of all the problems in the plurality method. I don't
think that there is a single method that should be called majority.
Rather, majority rule is an ideal goal for single-winner methods, which
turns out to be impossible to achieve in some situations because of the
Condorcet paradox.
	Last, I disagree with your assertion that the Condorcet method doesn't
work well when there are a large number of candidates, and therefore I
also do not think that your proposal for an approval then Condorcet
procedure is necessary. What is your reasoning for wanting to avoid a
situation in Condorcet where there are a lot of candidates? Is it just the
hassle of printing out ballots that big? Maybe the answer is simply a
computer interface. As far as voters truncating their ballots when the
come to candidates whom they have never heard of, this doesn't create a
problem in Condorcet. Candidates who a big chunk of the voters have never
heard of are unlikely to win, and that is as it should be.

James