[EM] To Bill Lewis Clark re: stepping-stone

[Forest Simmons]

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Dave Ketchum wrote:

> On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:09:00 -0800 (PST) Forest Simmons wrote:
>
> >
> > On Tue, 27 Jan 2004, Dave Ketchum wrote:
> >
> >
> >>On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 11:11:32 -0800 (PST) Forest Simmons wrote:
> >>
> >>  > On Sat, 24 Jan 2004, Dave Ketchum wrote:
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  >>IRV is not as similar to runoff as some claim - at runoff time I know the
> >>  >>result of the original vote; with IRV I must do all of my ranking at
> >>one time.
> >>  >>
> >>  >>
> >>  >
> >>  > For sincere voters, i.e. voters bound and determined to vote their
> >>  > favorite among the uneliminated candidates at every stage no matter the
> >>  > consequences ... for these dyed-in-the-wool sincere voters the two methods
> >>  > are essentially equivalent, except for events that might change opinions
> >>  > about favorites between trips to the polls.
> >>  >
> >>To decide how important that is, we have to decipher what percentage of
> >>the voters qualify as "sincere".
> >>
> >>And even they sometimes have to react as I suggested - look back at the
> >>French election we keep looking at:
> >>        For MOST voters the favorite to stay with was NOT Chirac.
> >>        For MOST voters the favorite to stay with was NOT Le Pan.
> >>        So the MANY voters who fit both of those descriptions had both the
> >>opportunity and requirement to do new thinking at runoff time.
> >>
> >>NOTE - responding as required by circumstances does not require changing
> >>opinions about favorites - those who voted for Chirac over Le Pen did not
> >>necessarily consider Chirac to be even tolerable, let alone a favorite -
> >>they were only doing the best they could with the hand that had been dealt.
> >>
> >
> > Note that I said "... favorite among the uneliminated ..." meaning the
> > uneliminated candidate preferred above the other uneliminated candidates.
> >
>
> I also saw your emphasis on "essentially equivalent", and chose to respond
> to that thought last time.
>
> Now you put more emphasis on "favorite among the uneliminated", which is
> meaningful only in a method that is different by having an actual separate
> rerun.

If your ranked preference ballot is sincere, then after the eliminated
candidates have been crossed off, the top ranked uneliminated candidate on
your ballot is your favorite among the uneliminated.

Forest