[EM] Can anyone help with straight-ahead Condorcet language?

[robert bristow-johnson]

I don't think I asked this here before, but forgive me if I had.

I had modified an existing template of language for IRV into BTR-IRV at some other time and maybe posted that for any suggestions to make it better.

Here is a similar template but for straight-forward Condorcet (with a "Condorcet completion" step (4) that is, for now, just a placeholder).

But can I get any suggestions for step (3) that might be clearer or more concise?


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All elections of [office] shall be by ballot, using a system of ranked-choice voting without a separate runoff election. The presiding election officer shall implement a ranked-choice voting protocol according to these guidelines:
  (1) The ballot shall give voters the option of ranking candidates in order of preference. Lower ordinal preference shall be considered higher rank and the candidate marked as first preference is considered ranked highest. Equal ranking of candidates shall be allowed. Any candidate not marked with a preference shall be considered as ranked lower than every candidate marked with a preference.
  (2) If a candidate receives a majority (over 50 percent of all ballots) of first preferences, that candidate is elected.
  (3) If no candidate receives a majority of first preferences, a Condorcet-consistent retabulation shall be performed by the presiding election officer.  The candidate, who is the Condorcet winner, is elected if the rankings on all of the ballots indicate that this one candidate defeats, by a simple majority of voter preferences, all other candidates when compared in turn with each other individual candidate.  A selected candidate defeats another candidate by a simple majority when the number of ballots marked ranking the selected candidate higher than the other candidate exceeds the number of ballots marked to the contrary.
  (4) If no Condorcet winner exists in step (3), then the candidate with the the plurality of first preferences is elected.
  (5) The [governing jurisdiction] may adopt additional regulations consistent with this subsection to implement these standards.
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thanks in advance.


--

r b-j . _ . _ . _ . _ rbj at audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

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