[EM] Poll Ballot, from Richard

Chris Benham cbenhamau at yahoo.com.au
Thu Jul 18 14:43:53 PDT 2024


> What about just dividing that person’s vote equally among all those 
> s/he equal-ranks?

That is logical and I suppose acceptable for this poll, but I do like it 
better with the extra step I suggested.

> Better than throwing the ballot out. 

Since we are using the same ballots for different methods, yes. In a 
real-life serious Hare election I'd be content (assuming it's possible 
to strictly rank all the candidates) to just consider equal-ranked 
candidates and any ranked below them to be truncated.

In Australia the whole ballot  would be classified as "informal" and not 
counted towards the result.


On 19/07/2024 6:30 am, Michael Ossipoff wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 23:15 Chris Benham <cbenhamau at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
>
>     I assume in the party-PR poll we are just supposed to give our
>     favourite. Is that correct?
>
>
> Yes, just indicate favorite party.
> ———
> For a real public political election by RCV,  sure. I’d change my last 
> name to Aardvark.
>
> What about just dividing that person’s vote equally among all those 
> s/he equal-ranks?
>
> Disadvantages to what the voter might have wanted, but that rule would 
> be stated in advance.
>
> Better than throwing the ballot out.
>
>
>
>
>     On 18/07/2024 3:01 pm, Michael Ossipoff wrote:
>>
>>     I forgot to mention: RCV & STV don’t allow equa-ranking (though
>>     Condorcet does).
>>
>>     However I wouldn’t call an RCV or STV ballot “spoiled” if it has
>>     equal-ranking. I’d instead just rank any equal-ranked candidates,
>>     at some particular rank-position, *in alphabetical-order by
>>     last-name*
>>
>>     I figure the voter won’t mind, because he doesn’t have any
>>     preference among them.
>>
>>     Is that okay?
>>
>>     Of course, for the RP(wv) count your equal-ranked candidates will
>>     be counted as equal-ranked, because equal-ranking is permissible
>>     in Condorcet.
>>
>>     Additional answers inline below:
>>
>>     On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 16:55 Richard, the VoteFair guy
>>     <electionmethods at votefair.org> wrote:
>>
>>         Michael, here is my ballot.
>>
>>         You can translate this into your desired ballot format.
>>
>>         If you claim you need a full ranking, then I choose not to
>>         vote in this
>>         poll.  That's because I don't have time to research unfamiliar
>>         candidates and unfamiliar parties.
>>
>>         In the candidate poll my ballot is that I rank Biden as the only
>>         "approved" candidate
>>
>>
>>     Okay.
>>
>>
>>         -- even though I wish he would drop out and
>>         transfer his delegate votes to nearly anyone.
>>
>>         I rank Trump at the bottom of the candidate list, below all
>>         the other
>>         candidates
>>
>>
>>     Okay.
>>
>>         because he wants to destroy democracy, destroy the U.S.
>>         economy as a favor to Putin, and destroy the U.S. military as
>>         another
>>         favor to Putin.
>>
>>
>>     Yes, The Republican in general, & Trump in particular, always
>>     finishes last, in every Condorcet or STAR poll that includes the
>>     Republocratic candidates & the Progressive candidates.
>>
>>     (In this election-year, Biden is winning the CIVS poll “2024
>>     presidential election”. Likewise in a few STAR polls. …because
>>     this year, some people feel a desperate need to portray Biden
>>     winnable, to try to make people vote for him in November. But
>>     ordinarily the top-finisher & CW is Jill or Bernie…well alright,
>>     sometimes a Libertarian. Never, ever, is the Republican anywhere
>>     but bottom.)
>>
>>     …& yet, people actually believe that Jill Stein couldn’t beat
>>     him. Usually she or Bernie is CW, too-finisher in those polls.
>>
>>     So, the usual top-finisher can’t beat the always bottom-finisher?
>>
>>     Wow! What are people smoking?
>>
>>     Hello? The always-bottom-finisher isn’t a threat if we all vote
>>     for the (same) candidate whom we actually all like.
>>
>>     Forget “The-Lesser-Evil” & “The-Two-Choices”.
>>
>>     In Burlington Alaska, it was clearly shown that the median-voters
>>     prefer the more progressive candidates. …in confirmation of those
>>     poll-results.
>>
>>     Lesser-evils voters worry too much!!!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>         In between I rank all the other candidates at the same
>>         preference level,
>>         and not worth researching to rank them because they lack
>>         high-level
>>         executive experience and expertise.
>>
>>
>>     Okay. As I mentioned, in RCV & STV, it will be necessary to for
>>     the count to rank those equal-ranked candidates in
>>     alphabetical-order. Is that okay?
>>
>>
>>
>>         In the party poll, I rank the Democratic party as the only
>>         "approved"
>>         party because it's the only party offering a viable candidate.
>>
>>
>>     Okay. The Democrat Party is your party vote, for the Party-PR count.
>>
>>
>>     Though it would be improper for me to comment on your ballot,
>>     there’s no rule that says I can’t comment on political-statements:
>>
>>     See above about the results of Condorcet & STAR polls, & what
>>     Burlington & Alaska showed about the preference of median-voters.
>>
>>     Most people say (in answer to other polls) that they’re tired of
>>     “The-Two-Choices”, & say they want different parties.
>>
>>     So yes the parties other than the Republocratic Party aren’t
>>     “viable”, because only the people want them. :-)
>>
>>     Don’t let the TV tell you what or who is or isn’t “viable”.
>>
>>     Vote honestly in November, for what we all want.  …& certainly
>>     not for someone none of us want, for whom we’d have to hold our nose.
>>
>>     If you’re holding your nose, reconsider your vote.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>         Under current circumstances I rank the Republican party at
>>         the bottom of
>>         the list, below all other parties.  That's because they are
>>         not offering
>>         a candidate who wants to preserve fair elections, protect the
>>         U.S.
>>         against its enemies, and improve the economy.  As another
>>         flaw, the new
>>         Republican party platform claims the presidential election
>>         will not be
>>         fair if the Republican candidate doesn't win the presidential
>>         election.
>>
>>
>>     Agreed. Few people want the Republicans. They’d never win an
>>     election with honest voting & honest count.
>>
>>
>>
>>         In case you didn't notice the above words "only approved
>>         party," I'll
>>         clarify that all the parties other than the Democratic party are
>>         "unapproved" because they do not offer viable candidates.
>>
>>
>>     Look what the Democrats offer :-)
>>
>>     That’s viable?
>>
>>     ..even though most people say they don’t want them?
>>
>>     Are the Democrats more viable than the candidates who usually win
>>     the Condorcet & STAR polls that include the Republocrats & the
>>     Progressives?
>>
>>
>>
>>         Apparently, in this poll, you want me to point to one party
>>         as the one I
>>         like.  It's "none of the above."  That's because I dislike
>>         all current
>>         U.S. political parties.  Yes, I'm willing to "throw away"
>>         this vote to
>>         express this preference
>>
>>
>>     Okay. Done. Your ballot doesn’t cast a vote in the Party-PR
>>     balloting.
>>
>>     You dislike all current parties? Have you read all of their
>>     platforms? If not, how do you know you dislike them? What do you
>>     dislike about the *policies* offered by some of the “3rd-parties”
>>     that you’ve heard of?
>>
>>     I’m not trying to get you to change your vote. That would be
>>     improper. Of course your ballot will be counted exactly as you said.
>>
>>     I’m merely participating in the political-discussion.
>>
>>
>>
>>         Clarification:  I register with either the Republican or
>>         Democratic
>>         party so I can vote in the primary elections of one or the
>>         other of the
>>         two parties that supply viable nominees. 
>>
>>
>>     The two parties that none of us want are the only viable ones?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>         I switch between those two
>>         parties periodically.  I dislike them both. 
>>
>>
>>     Yes! We all do!
>>
>>     Switch between them?
>>
>>     Switch out of them!
>>
>>         I also dislike all third
>>         parties.
>>
>>
>>     All of them? Regarding the main ones you’ve heard of, which of
>>     their platform-policies do you dislike?
>>
>>
>>
>>         My dislike of existing political parties is why I promote
>>         election-method reform! 
>>
>>
>>     Yes, that’s why we’re all here! Dislike of The Two Choices.
>>      …which obviously are NOT the two choices.
>>
>>     But which platform-policy of the main other parties that you’ve
>>     heard of do you dislike?
>>
>>
>>         If U.S. election reforms are well-designed,
>>         then in the future at least one U.S. party will be motivated
>>         to offer
>>         wise problem-solving leaders instead of whatever you want to
>>         call their
>>         current nominees.
>>
>>
>>     Regarding the platform-policies & leaders of the parties you’ve
>>     heard of, other than the Democrats & Republicans—what about them
>>     isn’t wise, problem-solving?
>>
>>     Michael Ossipoff
>>
>>
>>
>>         Richard Fobes
>>
>>
>>
>>         On 7/16/2024 9:24 PM, Michael Ossipoff wrote:
>>         > One reason for my voting 1st is to demonstrate what I mean
>>         by the
>>         > voting-instructions:
>>
>>         ...
>>         ----
>>         Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em
>>         for list info
>>
>>
>>     ----
>>     Election-Methods mailing list - seehttps://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/20240719/7e566e33/attachment.htm>


More information about the Election-Methods mailing list