[EM] Yes/?/No

[Kevin Venzke]

 Hi Robert,
Does FPP satisfy your standard here? Under FPP you can just vote your firstpreference, whether that is a good strategy or not.
If it does satisfy it, then I feel like your criticism of Approval is a bitarbitrary, since we could simply add equal ranking to FPP and in so doing it wouldbe clear that the voter is asked to vote for their first preference(s). The answerto your posed question would be no.
If FPP doesn't satisfy your standard either, that's reasonable, although I'm notsure Approval strategy is much more burdensome than FPP strategy. (To my mind,they are almost the same in practice: Identifying the best frontrunner is the maintask.)
Kevin


    Le samedi 7 novembre 2020 à 20:58:30 UTC−6, robert bristow-johnson <rbj at audioimagination.com> a écrit :  
 
 > >  i've been trying for a couple years to get the Election Science people to answer that simple question. should a voter approve of their second choice or not? there is no simple answer and the voter is burdened with the task of tactical voting.
> > 
> >  
> 
> Approve your favorite. Disapprove your least-favorite.
> 

Disapprove is no different than not approving.  Approve (mark) your favorite.  Leave your least favorite unmarked (which is as "disapproved" you can mark them).  What do you do with your second choice?  Or any other candidate that you hate less than your least-favorite?


> Now imagine if the decision were between just those two, and it was being decided with a coin flip.
> 

Are you serious?  You are suggesting that a voter literally flip a coin on each candidate that is neither their favorite nor their hated?  That's not tactical voting?

> For each of the others, would you rather have them win or take the chance on the coin flip between your most-favored candidate and your least-favored candidate?
> 
> If you would prefer that candidate to the coin flip, then approve them. If you'd rather take your chances with the coin flip, then disapprove them.
> 

It's ridiculous to ask or to require voters to do that.  What a cognitive burden to place on voters to represent their interests faithfully.  If they cannot grok this tactical thinking, then they get to wonder (or fear) if they harmed their favorite or if they helped a candidate they dislike get elected.

-- 

r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
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