[EM] Re: Voting Systems Study of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota

[Jobst Heitzig]

Dear Russ!

You wrote:
> You make an excellent point. Rather than defending Approval, Approval
> advocates should go on the offensive and let the opponents explain why
> the voter *shouldn't* be allowed to approve more than one candidate.
> 
> Having said that, let me play devil's advocate and give you a potential
> reason.
> 
> The basic principle of voting is that you, the voter, are supposed to
> specify who *you* think should be elected. 

The obvious answer to this would be: No, this is not the basic principle.
It's rather that each voter provides *information* about her preferences
in some standardized form.

> If you were the only voter,
> your vote should choose the winner. 

I also doubt that. There is obviously no use in such a requirement since
it refers to a situation known to be not occurring. It is rather strange,
I would say, to behave in a cooperative group process like it was not a
cooperative group process.

> Plurality forces you to make up your mind!

I doubt that definitely. Have you any evidence for this claim? From a
theoretic point of view, assuming rational voters with perfect information,
you might be correct. But those assumptions are already to be doubted in
small group decision processes and are certainly invalid in large scale
elections.

Yours, Jobst