[Election-Methods] Response to Schudy re Range vs Approval voting

[Juho]

On Aug 8, 2007, at 20:52 , Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:

>> > The description should inform the voter how the voter's marks will
>> > be used. One of the descriptions that has been suggested (by me?)
>> > is precisely that "You have 10 votes, and you may cast as many of
>> > them as you like for a given candidate, without any restriction on
>> > how many you cast for another candidate. The winner will be the
>> > candidate with the most votes. For each candidate, mark the
>> > position on the ballot corresponding to the number of votes you
>> > wish to cast for that candidate."
>>
>> Maybe some example votes would clarify to the voters what the typical
>> voting patterns are. This description may still lead to different
>> interpretations by them.
>
> Like what?

I'm just saying that the voters should know what they are doing in  
order not to lose their vote (partly). Maybe the official  
descriptions of the method are not that important since probably we  
can trust the media to do their job and explain the methods to the  
voters.

The media could give also the examples. They could say e.g. that: If  
one wants to use the full strength of one's vote one should normally  
use the min and max points. If you believe the winner will be either  
A or B and you prefer A don't vote A=100, B=90 but vote A=100, B=0  
instead.

If this kind of discussion is repeated often enough voters will learn  
and then use the method in a way that they find most appropriate for  
them. Nobody will be "cheated" to cast weak votes. If they do so,  
they will do that for some reason.

(Also the people that make decisions on what voting methods to use  
should get all this information.)

Juho



		
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