[EM] A Simpler Version of Candidate Proxy Ballot Enhancement

[Forest Simmons]

Let's say the base method takes as inputs four slot ballots.

Voters are given to understand that the Top slot is for their favorite or
tied favorites if the voter cannot decide which of them is really, really
favorite.

The next slot down from Top is AA for Also Approved, a slot where you put
candidates that you definitely approve of, but are not equal to Top.
Let's skip over the next one and talk about Bottom.  Bottom is for
candidates that you are sure that you could never approve of, or support in
any way, not even as a lesser evil.

The remaining slot (between Bottom and Also Approved) is for all other
candidate ... lesser evils that you might be able to support in some
degree, you don't feel strongly that they would ruin the country, or you
feel luke-warm about them, etc.

You may mark some or all of these limbo level candidates with question
marks.

All question marks will be automatically resolved according to the
preferences expressed on the ballot(s) of the candidate(s) marked Top.

If there are no question marks. then no proxy meddling can happen.

Otherwise, all question marked candidates that are approved by the ballot
of the proxy will be moved up to Also Approved.
Those question marked candidates that are truncated or otherwise in bottom
place on the ballot of the proxy will be moved to Bottom.
The remaining question marked candidates will retain their limbo position
between Bottom and Also Approved.

After all of these Proxy Enhancements have been made, the resulting ballots
will be fed into the base four slot method to decide the election.

One question remains.  When are the candidates' Approval and Bottom cutoffs
decided?

I propose that candidates be required to submit complete ordinal
information well before the election, but that they be allowed to decide
their approval and bottom cutoffs at any time before, during, or after the
ballots with question marks are submitted.

Why, because these cutoffs are the main strategic levers that the
candidates can use to defend themselves against various strategic
offensives. If the partial information from the ballots with question marks
show threat of burial or of a "chicken" offensive, the candidates should be
able to adjust their cutoffs accordingly.

What do you think?
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