[Election-Methods] A Better Version of IRV?

[fsimmons at pcc.edu]

Chris:
 Maybe something technical like the voter can fill out a "ballot"  at home, take
it to the polling booth where a machine scans it and copys it and  then prints
out an official ballot and the voter's receipt.

We have had vote by mail here in Oregon for about ten years, and so far no regrets.

Chris:
Truncation should be allowed, so no-one has to "fill out  rankings" if they
don't want to.

Total agreement there.

My suggestion is to try to adapt an idea from information theory:  when
designing a system for conveying information efficiently, give the shortest code
words to the most likely messages.

Perhaps some EM aficionado can surprise us with an ingenious idea along these
lines. 

Forest