[EM] piling on against IRV

[Kathy Dopp]

> Date: Sun, 9 May 2010 13:30:38 -0600
> From: Jameson Quinn <jameson.quinn at gmail.com>
> To: robert bristow-johnson <rbj at audioimagination.com>
> Cc: election-methods Methods <election-methods at lists.electorama.com>
> Subject: Re: [EM] piling on against IRV
> Message-ID:
>        <r2jfaf2c12b1005091230zb9b057d0n97a25121271c04f0 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> 2010/5/9 robert bristow-johnson <rbj at audioimagination.com>
>
>> in comparison, i have seen 3 different TTR elections for City Council in
>> Burlington.  none had more than 55% turnout on runoff day (in comparison to
>> the number of voters that came on the first election day).  the IRV election
>> had 93% of the voters participating in the final round.   93% turnout is a
>> lot better turnout than 55%.  every voter that expressed an opinion of at
>> least one of the two candidates that made it to that final round
>> participated in the actual choice of the elected candidate.

TWO PROBLEMS WITH THIS LOGIC (OR LACK OF IT):

1. Robert is trying to get us to compare the numbers 93% with 55% when
he's talking about apples and oranges:

55% out of all voting age population for a different plurality election
vs.
93% out of voters who actually voted in a different STV election.

To know how many who turned out and voted in the final IRV round would
require multiplying .93 times the turnout rate for the IRV/STV contest
which Robert neglects to include.

Nice trick Robert. Seems to work on some people.

2. Robert is ignoring the issue that the exclusion of voters from
participating in IRV/STV is INVOLUNTARY and all voters are allowed
freely to participate in the 2nd round of a real runoff election, at
their pleasure.

IRV/STV BS patrol continues.


Kathy Dopp
http://electionmathematics.org
Town of Colonie, NY 12304
"One of the best ways to keep any conversation civil is to support the
discussion with true facts."

Realities Mar Instant Runoff Voting
http://electionmathematics.org/ucvAnalysis/US/RCV-IRV/InstantRunoffVotingFlaws.pdf

Voters Have Reason to Worry
http://utahcountvotes.org/UT/UtahCountVotes-ThadHall-Response.pdf

View my research on my SSRN Author page:
http://ssrn.com/author=1451051