[EM] Manual Construction of Smith Set

[Richard, the VoteFair guy]

On 1/26/2022 12:02 PM, Colin Champion wrote:
 > ... for what it’s worth I entirely agree with you.
 > ... Computing the Smith set is a task beyond the understanding
 > of normal people. ...

Colin, thanks for the confirmation!

The topic arose on Reddit -- in r/EndFPTP -- when someone insisted that 
Smith/IRV -- was better than RCIPE (Ranked Choice Including Pairwise 
Elimination).  When I said that was too difficult to understand, he(?) 
disagreed.  I wanted to ensure there wasn't something I was overlooking 
as to how it might be easy.

As Kristofer pointed out, it can be easy in most cases, but not in all 
cases.

On 1/26/2022 12:02 PM, Colin Champion wrote:
 > ... What’s worse, in my view, is that it lacks any intuitive meaning.
 > The argument “X deserves to be elected rather than Y because X is in
 > the Smith set and Y isn’t” will be found persuasive by about 20 
people on the planet. ...

I agree!

IMO the idea of improving IRV by limiting the winners to the Smith set 
is like putting expensive racing tires on an old pickup truck.

Richard Fobes
The VoteFair guy


On 1/26/2022 12:02 PM, Colin Champion wrote:
> Richard – for what it’s worth I entirely agree with you. Computing the
> Smith set is a task beyond the understanding of normal people. What’s
> worse, in my view, is that it lacks any intuitive meaning. The argument
> “X deserves to be elected rather than Y because X is in the Smith set
> and Y isn’t” will be found persuasive by about 20 people on the planet
> (amongst whom I am not numbered).
>    Colin