[EM] [Fwd: Re: approval voting and majority criterion]

[Eric Gorr]

At 10:17 AM -0800 3/15/04, Ken Johnson wrote:
>What has gone wrong? Consider, for example, a specific CR profile:
>55%: A=99, B=100
>45%: A=99, B=0
>If people vote sincerely, the election goes to candidate A. Of 
>course, the voters who have a slight preference for B may 
>insincerely give A a zero rating, so that B wins. This isn't 
>necessarily a good outcome, it is just an unavoidable consequence of 
>insincerity. But with more candidates, this result may not be 
>unavoidable. For example, suppose the CR profile with a third 
>candidate C is as follows,
>55%: A=99, B=100, C=0
>45%: A=99, B=0, C=100
>Now, unless the B supporters know for sure that they are a majority, 
>they will vote sincerely and the election will go to candidate A, 
>who has the strong, unanimous approval of all voters. This is 
>arguably not a bad outcome.

Interestingly enough, A is the Condorcet winner as well, since these 
ballots could reasonably be interpreted as:

55: B>A>C
45: C>A>B

So, you would be hard pressed to find anyone (unless they are, for 
example, an IRV supporter) to say that A should not have won. Of 
course, the IRV people will claim that B should be the winner.

Now, if you can present an example where the Condorcet winner, with a 
reasonable interpretation of the ballots, did not win, you may have a 
good discussion on your hands.