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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You are not flippant.. you've made a good point.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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></FONT></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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 face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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 face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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 face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">If I had to define it
formally, I’d use:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Preferential voting;
n. Example of a non-sequiter.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Literature offers numerous
understandings and definitions:</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 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 face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I'd be grateful for any
comments.</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">jure</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV>
<P>
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