[EM] Introductory Message

[Dave Ketchum]

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 09:48:44 -0800 (PST) Doreen Dotan wrote:

> B"H
> 
>  
> 
> Hello. I'm Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan and I live in a town called Tzfat, 
> which is the Galilee of Israel.  I'm still a passport-carrying US-born 
> citizen, although I assumed Israeli citizenship about a year after 
> arriving here twenty-one years ago.  I am a citizen of Ireland as well.
> 
>  
> 
> I am not a political scientist of any kind, most certainly not a 
> psephologist, but I do see that the system of elections in Israel is in 
> dire need of overhaul, and I have been reading a bit about alternative 
> systems of voting recently for the purpose of trying to find a system 
> that can be most readily and best adapted to the Israeli political reality.
> 
>  
> 
> Having considered the material available on the net rather more than 
> perfunctorily, but not having really delved into the subject matter as 
> yet, my reaction is that some form of cardinal ratings would suit our 
> system best. 
> 
>  
> 
> The Israeli voter is wont to imagine herself or himself a good deal more 
> sophisticated politically that she or he really is.  Another factor that 
> I must take into consideration is the fact that the Israeli government 
> is very intrusive in the life of the citizenry, this is a left-over from 
> our socialist days.  Almost all jobs, other than the most menial, are a 
> result of either nepotism or political affiliation and loyalty, or both. 
> Voters will do as they are instructed by their parties (and bosses). 
> Oddly, this does not present a paradox in the mind of the swaggering 
> Israeli who imagines herself or himself very politically sophisticated 
> indeed.  Tampering with the tallying of the ballots is not unusual.
> 

First topic I see is secrecy.   In New York State most voting uses 
mechanical machines, which step counters for each voter's vote - thus 
having no individual data to keep secret.
      When a paper ballot is used it is forbidden to get any markings 
identifying the voter.  Absentee ballots get enclosed in envelopes, and 
the envelopes identify the voter - with the ballot removed before being 
counted.

>  
> 
> The Israeli educational system produces people who are singularly weak 
> in math.  The voting system must be relatively simple, or the average 
> Israeli will be intimidated by it or forced to depend on the honesty of 
> a sophisticated few who can tally a complicated system of voting, a 
> wholly unacceptable, and unrealistic, state of affairs.  Additionally, 
> we still use paper ballots. For those reasons I think that Condorcet, 
> whatever its advantages may be, is not suited either to our electoral 
> system, or to the mentality of Moshe Felafel (our equivalent of Joe 
> Six-Pack).
> 

Here I see NEED to avoid methods subject to strategy, both to protect 
Moshe against strategy AND to minimize excuses for Moshe to suspect misuse 
of strategy.

To me this is an invitation for Condorcet:

Tell Moshe this is a tournament (which it is - every pair of candidates 
are compared, with the candidate who wins in all of its pairs winning the 
election) (there is the case of near ties among the strongest candidates - 
   a beats all except b; b beats all except c; and c beats all except a - 
this is resolvable, even with a more complex tie - what is IMPORTANT is 
that candidates in the cycle have demonstrated that candidates outside the 
cycle have, properly, lost.

To vote, Moshe indicates, in order, the best liked candidates - a, b, c to 
indicate three.  Here a gets a win count vs every other candidate, b gets 
a win count vs all except a, and c a win count vs all except a and b.

Rules CAN permit indicating equal liking for multiple candidates.

Note that minor party X can nominate a candidate that no one but members 
will choose to vote for.  The small count for this candidate will not 
disturb the counts for other candidates.

>  
> 
> I would like to see voter ratings on a scale of 1 - 10 for the PM.  This 
> would give a fairly accurate idea of how popular the person voted to be 
> Prime Minister is among the electorate at the end of the election. 
> 

The array that Condorcet produces shows comparative liking among ALL pairs 
of candidates, including those far from winning.


> Presently we vote for the parties that comprise the Knesset separately 
> from the PM.  I should like to see voter ratings of 1 - 120 (120 
> corresponding to the number of seats in the Knesset) for the parties 
> that are contending for seats in the Knesset.  Thus, theoretically, one 
> party could hold every seat in the Knesset (of course this scenario is 
> well nigh impossible, but the possibility should exist).  This voting 
> procedure would not only determine which parties will comprise the 
> Knesset, and how many seats they will have, but will do away with the 
> present system of parties having to pass a 1.5% thre shold of votes in 
> order to have any representation at all (see http://tinyurl.com/22woe).
> 

If I read the 1.5% correctly, it says a party too weak to elect two 
members should have none.  Seems like a political question we should duck.

Also, I see no need to disturb the proportional representation presently 
in use.  Anyone wishing to change this needs to explain the expected benefits.

I read of a variety of methods of creating party lists.
      Demanding that all change would likely be most successful at 
inspiring enemies.
      If some methods are ugly, perhaps these could be improved.

>  
> 
> I do not expect that the Israeli electorate will vote sincerely in the 
> first few elections of CR is introduced.  They will, almost undoubtedly, 
> try to "beat the system" and skew things such that they receive an 
> outcome like the ones they have been accustomed to.  However, after 
> having lived with the results of their own outsmarting themselves a few 
> times I believe that they will begin to vote more sincerely.  The 
> opportunity for the ultimate freedom of voting expression and sincerity 
> should be granted even if it first it is not appreciated or used wisely 
> and well.
> 

If there are no effective strategy games - where Condorcet is supposed to 
be - this period should be short..

>  
> 
> Are any of the members of the group familiar with the Israeli voting 
> system?  I would appreciate your reactions, comments and suggestions.
> 

No - but you gave enough base for analysis.

>  
> 
> Doreen

-- 
  davek at clarityconnect.com    people.clarityconnect.com/webpages3/davek
  Dave Ketchum   108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY  13827-1708   607-687-5026
            Do to no one what you would not want done to you.
                  If you want peace, work for justice.