[EM] Declaration of Election-Method Experts and Enthusiasts: final stretch
Dave Ketchum
davek at clarityconnect.com
Wed Sep 7 03:14:14 PDT 2011
Noise, but possibly worth a response.
In writing about a Condorcet race the standard format seems to be A>X>Y.
For voting the ballot format seems to be to be able to assign rank
numbers to as many of the candidates as the voter chooses.
In reporting election results the n*n matrix has findable values for
each pair of candidates.
Robert calls the format he has seen for the matrix "silly", and
suggests another format.
The reporting is a human readable copy of what is being computed -
with the computing almost certainly done by computer if many
candidates. Therefore a reporting format such as Robert's would be
usable if humans could agree - or even have selectable choices of
formats if enough desire.
Dave Ketchum
On Sep 7, 2011, at 1:12 AM, robert bristow-johnson wrote:
>
> still not sure of the efficacy of trying to persuade voters (or
> their elected representatives) to try out different ballot formats
> than ranked choice but...
>
>
> "... The n*n matrix used in Condorcet has information useful to
> those wanting to learn more about relationship of candidates. ..."
>
> why, oh why, are all of you election method experts stuck on that
> silly n x n matrix geometry (where the main diagonal has no
> information you have to associate one number on the lower left with
> another number on the upper right, and it isn't obvious which number
> goes with which candidate) instead of grouping the pairwise totals
> *in* *pairs*??? like
>
>
> A 56
> B 44
>
> A 88 B 65
> C 12 C 35
>
> A 90 B 82 C 55
> D 10 D 18 D 45
>
>
> THAT format is where you have useful information about the
> relationships between candidates at a glance.
>
> if we're gonna tell people about Condorcet, why are we putting it in
> a stupid rectangular array where it is difficult to tell who beat
> who? it only makes it harder to sell this to skeptics.
>
> --
>
> r b-j rbj at audioimagination.com
>
> "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
>
>
>
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