[EM] Hare (aka IRV) versus STAR

[KenB]

On 4/11/2024 7:53 AM, Kristofer Munsterhjelm wrote:
> For what it's worth, this paper argues that the Condorcet loser in 
> 2016 was Trump and, while the error margins are greater, the winner 
> might have been Gary Johnson.
>
> https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/G2XRIJW6VSQA9PHDGSRC/full
= = = = =
[KB]  Thank you for the link.

Early in the article, the authors wrote, "We demonstrate that the 
current electoral system for American presidents can, and in 2016 
possibly did, select the least-preferred of a set of four candidates."  
This suggests to me that the article is in a different universe than we 
are.  It's interesting but it's irrelevant to election reform.

We all know that the "current electoral system" in the U.S. ignores the 
national popular vote totals for President.  The President is "elected" 
by the so-called Electoral College (EC) rules in the U.S. Constitution, 
state by state.  I suspect we all know that those rules are skewed 
toward small-population states via counting the number of senators (2) 
for each state, a number established by a kind of 18th century 
gerrymandering at the Constitutional Convention.

I fail to see the non-academic relevance to the real world of deeply 
analyzing the national popular vote.  Some could argue that this article 
adds weight to arguments against the electoral College -- as if any is 
needed.  But realistically the possibility of amending the Constitution 
to change or get rid of the EC is zero.

Thanks again for posting the link.  The only workaround I've seen with a 
chance of obviating the EC is the National Popular Vote Interstate 
Compact.  (https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation) But 
that's a topic for a different discussion list.
   - Ken Bearman, Minneapolis MN
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