[EM] STV and weighted positional methods

[James Gilmour]

> > On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 8:30 PM, Kathy Dopp 
> >>Computer scientists have already mathematically proven that  counting 
> >>IRV/STV is an exponential problem in computer science. Far far more 
> >>difficult and time-consuming to count accurately than other voting 
> >>methods. I am fairly certain that your assertion about counting time 
> >>is incorrect.

Dave Ketchum  > Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 11:49 PM
> Proving difficulty is tricky because it depends on understanding the 
> problem.


If this is about computation time (real, elapsed time) for increasingly complex algorithms for STV-PR (integer, Gregory, Weighted
Inclusive Gregory, Meek, and then some), maybe you would all find it helpful to look at the paper by Jeffrey C. O’Neill:  "Fast
Algorithms for Counting Ranked Ballots", published in 'Voting matters' in March 2006:
  http://www.votingmatters.org.uk/ISSUE21/I21P1.pdf

The tests reported in that paper used real ballot data from actual public elections.  The program used to implement all the
different sets of counting rules is Open Source and so freely available to all.

James Gilmour


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