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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Ah, “preferential systems”. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Voting is the act of the casting a ballot.
It is inherently preferential, but has nothing to do with how the ballots are
counted. If they are talking about differences in tallying methods, they
shouldn’t be calling them “voting” systems. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I am being a bit pedantic, but clarity is
necessary here. A “voting system” is a punched-card, a
touch-sensitive CRT, paper with circles that require a #2 pencil, or a gorgeous
1950s-era big box with lots of levers to play with including the big ones that
would automatically turn all the little ones for the same party.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I think what we’re talking about is “preferential
vote-counting”, which is at honest. The same ballots give different
results depending upon how precisely the election method reflects the voters’
preferences.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
election-methods-electorama.com-bounces@electorama.com
[mailto:election-methods-electorama.com-bounces@electorama.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Toplak Jurij<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, August 19, 2004
6:23 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Paul Kislanko;
election-methods@electorama.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [EM] RE: Definition
of preferential voting</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>You are not flippant.. you've made a good point. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Recently, David Farrell and Ian McAllister have used the
term 'preferential voting' in the way that resembles your view. All the systems
are preferential, but, they say, some are more preferential than others -
assuming that 'preference' means 'choice'. Therefore, more choice means more
preference. This way they end up with the scale ranging from most preferential
to less preferential systems. The paper is available at <a
href="http://repositories.cdlib.org/csd/04-04/">http://repositories.cdlib.org/csd/04-04/</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid black 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt;
margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I don’t mean to be flippant, but
what voting as performed by a voter would not be “preferential”?
Any collection procedure that gives the voter a choice asks for a preference.
So “preferential voting” is a noise phrase that doesn’t mean
anything at all since it applies to every method that asks for voter input. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I suppose you could make an argument that
“preferential voting” is the voters’ act of voting for their
preferences as opposed to voting opposite their preferences (by any method), or
that “preferential voting” is “preferring to vote or
preferring not to vote”. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>But to quote the very wise HAL-9000
(somewhat out of context) “The phrase does not admit an
explanation.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>If I had to define it formally, I’d
use:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Preferential voting; n. Example of a
non-sequiter.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Toplak Jurij
[mailto:jure.toplak@uni-mb.si] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, August 19, 2004
5:39 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Paul Kislanko;
election-methods@electorama.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Definition of
preferential voting</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>During the last days the discussion on this list
has focused primarily on the terminology. Coincidently I am working on a paper
that tries to define "preferential voting". </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Literature offers numerous understandings and definitions:</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>- 'preferential voting' is often used as a synonim for
Alternative Vote or IRV</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>- 'preferential voting' is sometimes used as another name
for STV</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>- 'preferential voting' is often used to denote 'ranking
methods' (thus including STV, AV, Borda, etc.)</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>- 'preferential voting is often used to denote a preference
for a single candidate within List PR (this definition is used mainly in <st1:place
w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>)</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>- mathematicians put first-past-the-post in the group of
preferential voting schemes, but approval voting is not a member of this group</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>- some authors put US primaries under 'preferential voting'
(Katz, for instance)</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Is it possible to define preferential voting at all?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I'd be grateful for any comments.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>jure</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
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</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>----<br>
Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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