[EM] Portland specifics, and ovals for approval cutoff

Closed Limelike Curves closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
Thu Jul 18 14:30:21 PDT 2024


PSC is proportionality for solid coalitions
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportionality_for_solid_coalitions>.

On Tue, Jul 16, 2024 at 11:07 AM Richard, the VoteFair guy <
electionmethods at votefair.org> wrote:

> On 7/15/2024 3:20 PM, Closed Limelike Curves wrote:
>  > Richard, I'd suggest taking a look at the newest
>  > version of Wikipedia's PSC article (and the
>  > citations in there); ...
>
> I don't recognize the PSC acronym.
>
> And I can't find it in Wikipedia's PSC list:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSC
>
> Also, I suggest changing the email "subject" to the full name of
> whatever PSC is.
>
> Richard Fobes
>
>
> On 7/15/2024 3:20 PM, Closed Limelike Curves wrote:
> > Richard, I'd suggest taking a look at the newest version of Wikipedia's
> > PSC article (and the citations in there); nonpartisan PR algorithms
> > other than STV are a very new field of research, and we're just barely
> > starting to study what algorithms satisfy what proportionality axioms.
> >
> > STV does try to put together a coalition, but this involves a very basic
> > greedy search for cohesive/solid coalitions that support a single group
> > of candidates. e.g. say a Hispanic Republican's preferences are
> > something like "vote for a Hispanic Republican, then non-Hispanic
> > Republicans, then a Hispanic Democrat"; whereas others Hispanic
> > Republicans care more about ethnicity than about party. In this
> > situation, there's no solid coalition for Hispanics /or/ Republicans, so
> > it's very prone to underrepresent one of these groups. IIRC the EVC's
> > proposal for a proportional STAR algorithm works on basically the same
> > principle, as does anything that assigns seats sequentially/greedily,
> > which is why I tend to dislike them; whereas PAV is optimization-based,
> > so it tends to find better apportionments across cross-cutting
> > coalitions. I think Schulze STV also satisfies similar properties (but
> > only locally, because global optimization across committees requires
> > voters to give candidates ratings).
> >
> > On Sun, Jul 14, 2024 at 10:22 AM Richard, the VoteFair guy
> > <electionmethods at votefair.org <mailto:electionmethods at votefair.org>>
> wrote:
> >
> >     On 7/13/2024 5:39 PM, Closed Limelike Curves wrote:
> >       > ...  my guess is the effect of STV is probably going to be
> limited
> >       > compared to other methods, because STV is only proportional for
> >     solid
> >       > coalitions, i.e. voting blocs moving in perfect lockstep with
> each
> >       > other, and only if they exceed a full quota. ...
> >
> >     When using STV, coalitions don't need to be "solid."
> >
> >     STV calculations automatically identify de-facto "coalitions."  Each
> >     candidate can be thought of as a de-facto coalition.
> >
> >     One way to think of this concept is that STV gives any coalition a
> >     "second try" when filling the second seat, and a "third try" when
> >     filling the third seat.
> >
> >     In contrast, IRV provides only "one try" for a coalition to elect
> their
> >     candidate.  So for IRV, a "solid" coalition voting with the same
> tactic
> >     does have an advantage compared to a loose (non-solid) coalition.
> >
> >     I'm not saying STV is better than PAV.  I'm saying this specific
> >     criticism of STV -- thinking that a coalition must be "solid" -- is
> not
> >     a valid reason to dismiss STV.
> >
> >     Richard Fobes
> >
> >
> >
> >     On 7/13/2024 5:39 PM, Closed Limelike Curves wrote:
> >      > Ahh, yeah, any PR method will outperform winner-take-all on this
> >     metric.
> >      > If cities are using STV for their city councils, that might imply
> >      > single-winner IRV actively reduces minority representation.
> >      >
> >      > That said, my guess is the effect of STV is probably going to be
> >     limited
> >      > compared to other methods, because STV is only proportional for
> >     solid
> >      > coalitions, i.e. voting blocs moving in perfect lockstep with each
> >      > other, and only if they exceed a full quota. So, for example, if
> >     ethnic
> >      > minorities tend to vote for a mix of white and minority
> >     candidates, or
> >      > if they're split across party lines (e.g. Hispanics only go about
> >     60-40
> >      > for Democrats), this will tend to break up and dilute their
> >     interests.
> >      > It's not enough to have a quota of Hispanics who rate Hispanic
> >      > Republicans and Hispanic Democrats highly; you need to have a
> >     full quota
> >      > rank /either/ a Hispanic Republican or a Hispanic Democrat at the
> >     top of
> >      > their ballots. The effect is the same as center-squeeze, where
> >     your vote
> >      > gets "stuck" with a weak candidate who nevertheless has enough
> first
> >      > preferences to stay in the race for several rounds. By the time
> this
> >      > candidate is eliminated, the more-electable candidates with fewer
> >     first
> >      > preferences have been defeated.
> >      >
> >      > But from what I can tell, this is much trickier to resolve than
> >      > center-squeeze; proportional Condorcet methods don't seem to have
> >     any
> >      > guarantees on how out-of-whack a coalition can get, although I
> think
> >      > Schulze STV has a nice local stability property.
> >      >
> >      > Most ethnic minorities aren’t solid coalitions, although
> >      > African-Americans happen to be so overwhelmingly Democratic they
> >     might
> >      > act like one. Something like PAV that approximately satisfies the
> >     core
> >      > property should do better at giving minority voters more
> >     representation.
> >      >
> >      > On Thu, Jul 11, 2024 at 8:40 PM Richard, the VoteFair guy
> >      > <electionmethods at votefair.org
> >     <mailto:electionmethods at votefair.org>
> >     <mailto:electionmethods at votefair.org
> >     <mailto:electionmethods at votefair.org>>> wrote:
> >      >
> >      >     On 7/11/2024 10:47 AM, Closed Limelike Curves wrote:
> >      >       > ... given there's no theoretical basis to think IRV would
> >     affect
> >      >       > city council and mayoral seats differently. ...
> >      >
> >      >     In the new Portland elections, "ranked choice voting" for
> >     city-council
> >      >     seats is STV (the Single Transferable Vote) with three seats
> per
> >      >     district, whereas "ranked choice voting" for Portland mayor is
> >      >     single-winner IRV (instant-runoff voting).
> >      >
> >      >     Of course Portland's three-seats-per-district STV city-council
> >      >     elections
> >      >     are going to yield more gender and racial diversity compared
> to
> >      >     single-winner IRV for electing Portland's mayor.
> >      >
> >      >     Richard Fobes
> >      >
> >      >
> >      >     On 7/11/2024 10:47 AM, Closed Limelike Curves wrote:
> >      >      > I'm going to go ahead and say I'm skeptical either of these
> >      >     results will
> >      >      > replicate, given there's no theoretical basis to think IRV
> >      >     would affect
> >      >      > city council and mayoral seats differently. My guess is
> >     both results
> >      >      > would disappear if you used a hierarchical/partial pooling
> >     model to
> >      >      > reduce the noise in the estimates.
> >      >      >
> >      >      > On Thu, Jul 11, 2024 at 10:45 AM Michael Garman
> >      >      > <michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>
> >      >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>>
> >      >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>
> >      >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>>>>
> >      >      > wrote:
> >      >      >
> >      >      >     And that’s bad! But it doesn’t negate the point I
> made. In
> >      >     council
> >      >      >     races it helps. And that’s good!
> >      >      >     On Thu, Jul 11, 2024 at 1:44 PM Closed Limelike Curves
> >      >      >     <closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>
> >      >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>>
> >      >      >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>
> >      >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>>>> wrote:
> >      >      >
> >      >      >          > In mayoral elections, RCV seems to *decrease*
> >     gender and
> >      >      >         racial/ethnic diversity.
> >      >      >         Sounds substantial!
> >      >      >
> >      >      >         On Thu, Jul 11, 2024 at 10:28 AM Michael Garman
> >      >      >         <michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>
> >      >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>>
> >      >      >         <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>
> >      >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us
> >     <mailto:michael.garman at rankthevote.us>>>> wrote:
> >      >      >
> >      >      >              > In city council elections, RCV has a small
> but
> >      >     positive
> >      >      >             effect on racial/ethnic diversity
> >      >      >             Sounds substantial!
> >      >      >
> >      >      >             On Thu, Jul 11, 2024 at 1:26 PM Closed
> >     Limelike Curves
> >      >      >             <closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>
> >      >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>>
> >      >      >             <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>
> >      >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:closed.limelike.curves at gmail.com>>>> wrote:
> >      >      >
> >      >      >                 Empirically, IRV adoption has no
> substantial
> >      >     effects on
> >      >      >                 diversity
> >      >      >
> >      >
> >       <
> https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/rcv-impact-on-candidate-entry-and-representation/
> <
> https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/rcv-impact-on-candidate-entry-and-representation/>
> <
> https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/rcv-impact-on-candidate-entry-and-representation/
> <
> https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/rcv-impact-on-candidate-entry-and-representation/>>>.
> In theory, I'd expect a small decrease in representation for minorities,
> because people of color tend to have higher rates of spoiled ballots, so
> IRV should hit them the hardest.
> >      >      >
> >      >      >                 In general, the theoretical advantages of
> IRV
> >      >     over FPP
> >      >      >                 are outweighed by its practical costs
> (spoiled
> >      >     ballots,
> >      >      >                 lower trust in elections, cost, etc.).
> >      >      >                 ----
> >      >      >                 Election-Methods mailing list - see
> >      >      > https://electorama.com/em <https://electorama.com/em>
> >     <https://electorama.com/em <https://electorama.com/em>>
> >      >     <https://electorama.com/em <https://electorama.com/em>
> >     <https://electorama.com/em <https://electorama.com/em>>>
> >      >      >                 for list info
> >      >      >
> >      >     ----
> >      >     Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em
> >     <https://electorama.com/em>
> >      >     <https://electorama.com/em <https://electorama.com/em>> for
> >     list info
> >      >
> >     ----
> >     Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em
> >     <https://electorama.com/em> for list info
> >
> ----
> Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em for list
> info
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/attachments/20240718/8e8a6798/attachment.htm>


More information about the Election-Methods mailing list