[Election-Methods] RE : Is this Condorcet method reasonable?

[Juho Laatu]

On Dec 11, 2007, at 0:02 , Steve Eppley wrote:
> If candidates may not withdraw after the voting, some of them may be
> forced to withdraw before the voting (also known as "deciding not to
> run, out of fear of being a spoiler that worsens the outcome") or some
> voters may be induced to vote insincerely.

Fortunately the results of the election are typically not known  
beforehand. Therefore the reasons and information behind a withdrawal  
before the election are typically quite different from what they  
would be after the election. I also note that e.g. in the US  
presidential elections there have been few spoilers and many  
candidates that could have become spoilers but I think there are not  
many that would have given up the race already before the election.

>   I've observed considerable
> voter negativity regarding not having a good enough candidate to vote
> for on election day, in systems where spoiling prevents candidates  
> from
> running, and having to "hold one's nose" while casting a vote for a
> less-preferred candidate.  I expect there would be considerable voter
> negativity regarding the need to vote strategically in systems that do
> not permit withdrawal.

After an election with withdrawals there can be two winners - one  
that would have won based on the ballots and one that won as a result  
of the withdrawals. Maybe the voters that supported the first  
"winner" are also disappointed with the method. That may be true  
especially if the first winner did not "win" as a result of strategic  
voting. Or if most of his supporters think so.

Juho