[EM] PR for USA or UK

[robert bristow-johnson]

On Jul 24, 2011, at 5:01 PM, Toby Pereira wrote:

>
>
> From: Kevin Venzke <stepjak at yahoo.fr>
...
> >I think the Range method itself is pretty incapable of this, but you
> >could do it either with rated ballots or with a rank ballot that has
> >truncation incentive.
>
> Is a range ballot not a rated ballot?

well, i don't know precisely what is meant by a "rated ballot", but  
Range or Score Voting is not the same as the *ranked* ballot nor  
really a subset of it.  i guess any score ballot can default to a  
ranked ballot, where the candidate ranks are listed in the same order  
as the candidate scores.  but Range or Score requires more information  
than the ranked ballot.

and i don't think voters would be entirely consistent between the two  
types of ballots.  it might be that a voter thinks that both  
Candidates B and C are scum (compared to A) and would score B and C at  
0 with A at 10 whereas, since the ranked ballot, if the voter thinks  
that B, while scum, is preferable to C and they might rank B higher  
than C, which doesn't hurt A at all.  whereas with score, bumping B up  
from 0 to 1 (or anything non-zero) to express the voters preference of  
B to C will numerically hurt this voters preference of A to B.

i have to admit, i don't like Score voting (i still don't see any of  
the single-winner alternatives beating Condorcet, for the most part).   
i think, while requiring more precise information from the voter than  
with the ranked ballot ("how much more do you prefer A over C than do  
you prefer A over B?"), i think it can lead a voter to act, to vote in  
a less expressive way than with the ranked ballot.  and i think that  
if voters (especially those that hate IRV and the ranked ballot) will  
use their Score ballot like a traditional ballot, except for the  
scaling.  that voter will give the single candidate of their choice a  
10 and all other candidates a 0.  that becomes like a First-Past-The- 
Post election.

--

r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."