[EM] Why I think IRV isn't a serious alternative

[Markus Schulze]

Dear Greg,

you wrote (25 Nov 2008):

> I've studied every IRV election for public
> office ever held in the United States, most
> of which have their full ranking data publicly
> available, and every single time IRV elected
> the Condorcet winner, something I consider to
> be a good, though not perfect, rule of thumb
> for determining the "right" winner. When you
> present a case in which IRV did not elect the
> right winner, maybe I'll agree or maybe I'll
> dispute your criteria, but at least then we'd
> be off the blackboard and into the world of
> real elections.

If I remember correctly, Abd wrote that, in every
IRV election for public office ever held in the
USA, the IRV winner was identical to the plurality
winner. Doesn't that mean that -- when we apply
your logic -- plurality voting always elects the
right winner?

Markus Schulze