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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">To avoid confusion I usually just use
the term "irrelevant ballots" to refer to ballots that in effect
don't do anything except<br>
change the total number of ballots.<br>
<br>
To answer your specific question, obviously they should be
irrelevant on who should win out of A and B but of course they
support<br>
A and B versus the rest so (even though A and B are "the clear
frontrunners") they may not be <i>entirely</i> irrelevant.<br>
<br>
Chris Benham<br>
<br>
On 11/10/2016 2:03 AM, Toby Pereira wrote:<br>
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<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478705300362_6141"><span
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478705300362_6180">Thank you for the
clarification. Would you also consider ballots that
rank/rate candidates equally to be irrelevant? For example,
if A and B are the clear frontrunners anyway, and a
ballot top rates or equal top ranks both candidates and
doesn't mention any other candidates, would this be an
irrelevant ballot?</span></div>
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<hr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478705300362_6142"
size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b>
C.Benham <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:cbenham@adam.com.au"><cbenham@adam.com.au></a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:election-methods@lists.electorama.com">election-methods@lists.electorama.com</a> <br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b>
Wednesday, 9 November 2016, 5:28<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b>
Re: [EM] Irrelevant Ballots<br>
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<div class="yiv7083602108moz-cite-prefix"
id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478705300362_6139">Toby,<br
clear="none">
<br clear="none">
A while ago some-one coined the "Blank Ballots
Criterion" that just said that the result
shouldn't change if we add (or remove) some<br
clear="none">
"blank ballots".<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
But it struck me that a method that breaches
this in spirit would usually meet the letter of
it by simply refusing to count such ballots<br
clear="none">
as "valid".<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
So I coined "Irrelevant Ballots Independence"
that just said that if we add some ballots that
do nothing but plump for some candidate <br
clear="none">
with fewer above-bottom votes than any other
candidate and that is ignored or not voted above
bottom on all the other ballots then<br
clear="none">
the result shouldn't change.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
It is failed by Bucklin and tends to be failed
by methods that use arbitrary percentage
thresholds of all the valid ballots as part of
their<br clear="none">
algorithms.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Chris Benham<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
On 11/9/2016 8:20 AM, Toby Pereira wrote:<br
clear="none">
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I've noticed people (mainly Chris Benham I
think) talking about "irrelevant ballots",
and I just wanted to clear up the definition
that people use. My intuitive understanding
is that a ballot is irrelevant with respect
to candidates A and B if it ranks/rates them
equally or doesn't rank/rate them at all. So
if A is elected over B then the addition or
removal of any such ballots would never
cause B to be elected over A.</div>
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<pre>----
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<div class="yqt6363353730" id="yqt01077">----<br
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Election-Methods mailing list - see <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
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