[EM] possible improved IRV method

[RLSuter at aol.com]

Allen Pulsifer wrote:

>>> The total votes is 999.  Candidate A, with 499 top 
>> rankings, is only 1 
>>> vote shy of a majority.  His two second rankings would bring him 
>>> across the threshold.  Nonetheless, Candidate D, with 2 first 
>>> preferences and 498 second preferences is the Condorcet winner.  
>>> Doesn't that seem backwards?
>> 
>> No.
>
>Welcome to the fringe, Eric.

If D is the Condorcet winner, that means D would defeat A (as
well as every other candidate) in a one to one contest. That also
means that if there had been only two candidates, A and D, then
D would have won. Yet you think A should be declared the winner,
which I'm guessing would strike most people as not very democratic
at all. You noticed that A had 499 top rankings, but did you also
notice that A had 332 bottom rankings while D had only 1? In
your subjective take on the results, don't you think that should
count for something? I'm guessing it would count for a lot to just
about everyone but a few people who are especially fond of IRV
and that most people would relegate you, not Eric, to the fringe.

-Ralph Suter