[EM] A proposal from a member of the public

[MIKE OSSIPOFF]

Someone sent in this reply to an article about proposed new voting systems:

The article discusses the interesting paradoxes possible with voting 
procedures as currently practiced in most elections. However, contrary to 
the schemes discussed in the article, how about a "perfect" voting procedure 
that does not have counterintuitive outcomes: an approval rating system, 
such as what judges use in the Olympics? Imagine a system in which a voter 
rates each candidate with a real number anywhere between -100 to 100, with a 
negative value indicating a voter's dislike for a candidate. No matter how 
many candidates enter a race, a ranking is obtained by ordering the averaged 
rating of the candidates. Interesting advantages abound, such as the 
negative value allows the possibility that a winning candidate could have an 
approval rating less than zero, indicating a particularly troubled 
electorate.

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