<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div style="" class="">Thank you a lot for explanation Richard.<br></div><div style="" class=""><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class=""><br style="" class="" clear="none">>The number of _choices_ (candidates) does make a big difference on the <br style="" class="" clear="none">>results. In contrast, the number of _voters_ does not make a big <br style="" class="" clear="none">>difference (except that ties are more likely if there are a small number <br style="" class="" clear="none">>of voters).</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida
Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class=""><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class="">So if a contest assumes only one winner than any method is valid, right?<br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class=""><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;" class=""><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,Lucida Grande,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style:
normal;" class="">Dmytro<br></div> <div style="" class=""><br style="" class=""><br style="" class=""></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div style="display: block;" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div class="" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div class="" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="" class="" dir="ltr"> <font style="" class="" size="2" face="Arial"> On Thursday, September 25, 2014 11:42 AM, Richard Fobes <ElectionMethods@VoteFair.org> wrote:<br style="" class=""> </font> </div> <br style="" class=""><br style="" class=""> <div style="" class="">On 9/25/2014 7:46 AM, dikov dikov wrote:<br style="" class="" clear="none"> > Basically, I had an idea that upon setting a contest, one would have a<br style="" class="" clear="none"> > pull down menu with voting
systems accompained with comments explaining<br style="" class="" clear="none"> > under which circumstances what system would give better results.<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none">Describing which voting method has which characteristics is very <br style="" class="" clear="none">challenging. To see why, look at this table in Wikipedia:<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none"> <br style="" class="" clear="none"><a style="" class="" shape="rect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_system#Compliance_of_selected_systems_.28table.29" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_system#Compliance_of_selected_systems_.28table.29</a><br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none">Typically when there is a choice of voting method, there is a table that <br style="" class="" clear="none">shows who the winner is for each of the voting methods. This is
what's <br style="" class="" clear="none">done at VoteFair.org.<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none"> > I exactly assumed that for small polls (say 10 voters) a simple majority<br style="" class="" clear="none"> > with only one winner can be more favorable than scoring all entries in<br style="" class="" clear="none"> > ballots.<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none">I don't understand what you mean here.<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none">A simple majority is only assured if there are just two <br style="" class="" clear="none">candidates/choices. (Except in the case of a tie.)<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none">If one of the candidates/choices gets a majority (more than half the <br style="" class="" clear="none">votes), then all the "good" voting methods would declare that <br style="" class=""
clear="none">candidate/choice as the winner. This means the choice of voting method <br style="" class="" clear="none">does not matter if there is a majority winner.<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none">The number of _choices_ (candidates) does make a big difference on the <br style="" class="" clear="none">results. In contrast, the number of _voters_ does not make a big <br style="" class="" clear="none">difference (except that ties are more likely if there are a small number <br style="" class="" clear="none">of voters).<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none">Richard Fobes<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none"><div style="" class="" id="yqtfd65365"><br style="" class="" clear="none">On 9/25/2014 7:46 AM, dikov dikov wrote:<br style="" class="" clear="none">> Hello Richard,<br style="" class=""
clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> Thank you for the detailed reply.<br style="" class="" clear="none">> I exactly assumed that for small polls (say 10 voters) a simple majority<br style="" class="" clear="none">> with only one winner can be more favorable than scorring all entries in<br style="" class="" clear="none">> ballots.<br style="" class="" clear="none">> Basically, I had an idea that upon setting a contest, one would have a<br style="" class="" clear="none">> pull down menu with voting systems accompained with comments explaining<br style="" class="" clear="none">> under which circumstances what system would give better results.<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> Thank you,<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> Dmytro<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class=""
clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> On Wednesday, September 24, 2014 11:50 PM, Richard Fobes<br style="" class="" clear="none">> <<a style="" class="" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:ElectionMethods@VoteFair.org" href="mailto:ElectionMethods@VoteFair.org">ElectionMethods@VoteFair.org</a>> wrote:<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> On 9/24/2014 4:59 PM, dikov dikov wrote:<br style="" class="" clear="none">> > .... Since amount of<br style="" class="" clear="none">> > voters (participants+followers) may reach even thousands I suspect that<br style="" class="" clear="none">> > different voting mechanisms would be appropriate, depending on amount of<br style="" class="" clear="none">> > votes.<br style="" class="" clear="none">> > Is that right or he can stick to some systems that would be
efficient on<br style="" class="" clear="none">> > large and small scales?<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> Thousands of voters does not cause any problem for any election method.<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> In fact, based on my experiences with surveys/polls/elections at<br style="" class="" clear="none">> VoteFair.org, a smaller number of voters can be more of an issue.<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> In particular, a small number of voters can more easily lead to a tie,<br style="" class="" clear="none">> and can more easily lead to the result not having a Condorcet winner.<br style="" class="" clear="none">> By contrast, a large number of voters decreases the chances of a tie,<br style="" class="" clear="none">> and increases the chances that there will be a Condorcet winner.<br style=""
class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> (Clarification: Instant-runoff voting (IRV) has a limitation if ballots<br style="" class="" clear="none">> are collected at different locations, because it cannot handle the<br style="" class="" clear="none">> summarizing that works with other counting methods. Yet even IRV can<br style="" class="" clear="none">> handle tens of thousands of ballots if they are cast at a single website.)<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> Thanks for asking, and especially thanks for learning about how voting<br style="" class="" clear="none">> should be done.<br style="" class="" clear="none">><br style="" class="" clear="none">> Richard Fobes<br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none"><br style="" class="" clear="none"></div><br style="" class=""><br style="" class=""></div> </div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>