[EM] Equal Rankings in Real World Voting Systems

[Alex Small]

Dave Ketchum wrote:
>Some voters are going to enter duplicate ranks even if it is forbidden,
>so I suggest making it legal and counting accordingly.

Exactly!  The simplest method for doing ranked voting (paper ballots with a list of possible ranks next to each name) makes it possible to do equal rankings, and somebody's going to enter them for one reason or another.  Rather than throwing out that ballot, why not count all of pairwise contests where the person DID weigh in?
 
It's similar to one of the pragmatic arguments for Approval Voting:  Instead of trying to figure out if somebody really meant to vote for Gore and Buchanan (were both chads punched with the same thoroughness?), just count both votes and move on.
 
As to whether equal rankings complicate the Approval cutoff, I prefer to just have separate yes/no boxes by each candidate's name (or even a separate Approval section of the ballot if it makes ballot layout easier).  Otherwise poll workers will have to answer the same question over and over:  "When I mark this candidate as the cutoff, does that mean that I'm approving him and everyone above him, or that I'm approving everybody above him but not him?"  (Actually, that would be the most cogent phrasing of the question.  Most people would probably phrase it in more confusing ways so that the poll workers aren't sure what answer to give.)
 
 
Alex

		
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