[Election-Methods] Challenge: Elect the compromise when there're only 2 factions

[Jobst Heitzig]

Dear Abd ul-Rahman,

> Oh! You want a democratic election method!

You got the point! I am not thinking a method that gives all power to one person is democratic. By the way, I also don't think a method which gives all power to 51% of the voters is democratic. This is what the challenge is all about!

> "True ratings," I've been pointing out, is not clear in meaning. 
> These ratings are obviously normalized, so they are not absolute 
> ratings, and therefore we cannot tell what the SU winner would be.

Right. As you know I don't believe in interpersonally comparable utilities. What I intended to suggest with those numbers was that the voters consider the compromise as largely as good as a lottery which elects their favourite in 80% of the cases and the other's favourite in 20%.
 
> The method, of course, is a Range method. Ranked methods cannot 
> detect the compromise winner, who, incidentally, violates the 
> Majority and Condorcet Criteria.

A winner does not violate a criterion, a method does. But you're right that the method we're searching for cannot possibly meet the majority criterion since that criterion is the core of the problem.

> (And, contrary to the assumptions, most people will *change* their 
> preference if they understand that others have strong preferences 
> compared to their own weak ones. We are social animals. So, again, if 
> the utilities given were accurate, and the electorate now knows this, 
> there is even more force toward C winning. A voters will change their 
> vote, and B voters will not, plus many A voters will abstain whereas 
> B voters will be highly motivated to turn out and vote. If I lived in 
> this society, I certainly would not be betting on A. If I were, I 
> would also be buying a ticket out with my winnings. This society 
> would be headed for major disaster, on the Ruanda scale. -- and if I 
> lost the bet, I'd breathe a huge sigh of relief.)

That would be so wonderful if you were right here. My experience is different, however.

Yours, Jobst

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