[EM] Question on RCV/IRV multi-seat method used in Minneapolis

[Jonathan Lundell]

On Sep 24, 2008, at 12:07 PM, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:

> In theory. But Kathy Dopp is a voting security expert. They like to  
> be able to recount elections and, if no errors were made, get the  
> same results. While this can be done with pseudo-random sequences,  
> I'm not sure I'd trust local election officials, who often have  
> trouble counting plain ballots as it is, with the complexity.

The common approach, I think, is to sequentially number the ballots  
during the initial count so that the count is repeatable.

It's worth noting that many (most?) STV counting methods are sensitive  
to ballot order to some extent. Meek/Warren is not, which is one of  
the attractions of those methods.

It's also worth noting that, for all practical purposes, most if not  
all voting methods have a random element (or at least a means outside  
the actual counting rules) for breaking ties, and this must be taking  
into account during recounts.