[EM] Making a Bad Thing Worse

[Raph Frank]

On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 4:34 PM, Greg Nisbet <gregory.nisbet at gmail.com> wrote:
> =Potential competition is also relevant. Primaries are unlikely to put
> forward unpopular candidates if a popular loser could potentially
> shoot them in the foot. This would give primaries more incentive to
> pick someone favorable to the entire electorate, rather than the
> faction that chose to participate in their primary.

Well there is some tactics involved.  However, the person who receives
the party's nomination has a massive advantage.  There is a large
number of voters who will vote based purely on the party nomination.
Thus, in order not to split the votes, the rest of the party's
supporters would need to vote for that candidate too.

> =How do the parties nominate individuals in the UK?

It is decided by the central/national party leadership and there is
some consultation with the local party members.

> =Why can't a represent myself with an IRV ballot? It isn't a big
> stretch of the imagination for me to delegate my vote to a program,
> essentially. Or should I be limited to casting a vote for someone who
> can actually win the election?

You could probably vote for someone who has declared how they intend
to transfer.

The idea with Asset is that you are delegating to someone who has a
mind, rather than a set of rules.