[Election-Methods] Fwd: FYI - FairVote MN Responds to LawsuitAgainst IRV

[rob brown]

On Dec 27, 2007 1:00 PM, Dave Ketchum <davek at clarityconnect.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:33:37 -0000 James Gilmour wrote:
> > Juho Laatu  > Sent: 27 December 2007 07:36
> >>Condorcet methods are not very widely used today.
> >
> > Are Condorcet methods used for any public elections today?  Have they
> ever been used for any public elections?  I ask only because I
> > am not aware of any examples, for public elections, and it would be very
> helpful to know if there were some.
> >
> If those who back IRV had chosen to back Condorcet, we could all be better
> off.
>

I think a smart strategic move, on the part of both IRV and Condorcet fans,
is to publicly back "Ranked Choice Voting", a generic term that is inclusive
of both Condorcet and IRV. That is what it is called here in San Francisco,
even though technically IRV is used.

The idea being that ranking candidates solves the problems with plurality,
and while we may disagree on the specific tabulation method, we all agree
that ranking candidates is a good thing.....and for now at least, that is
the important thing.

IRV has some momentum, and Condorcet fans can use that to their advantage.
I think very, very few IRV fans really know or care about the
difference....it would not be hard to get them on the side of Condorcet.
IRV fans, meanwhile, can use to their advantage the fact that lots of hard
core mathematically oriented voting geeks like Condorcet....good people to
have on their side.

I'm sure that San Francisco could switch to Condorcet easily enough....there
is little voter reeducation necessary since they already know how to use the
ballots and understand the main problem that ranking candidates solves.

But more important is that we can promote Condorcet in new places, by saying
"ranked choice voting is working in san francisco (and other places)"
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