1. BALLOT PARAMETERS AND CONVENTIONS:
My ballot uses 5-slot CR, corresponding to usual ‘academic grading’.
From top to bottom, the five grades are the usual A,B,C,D,F - correspondingto ranks 1,2,3,4,5 and to cardinal-rating or grade-point values 4,3,2,1,0.
Approved slots are the upper three: i.e. grades A,B,C or ranks 1,2,3 or ratings 4,3,2.
Grade D (rank = 4, rating = 1) is the truncation Default grade: D typically signifies mild non-approval on grounds of candidate’s irrelevance or of voter’s precaution in a time-constrained situation of ignorance about the candidate.
My ballot has five non-default-rated candidates - each with grades and grade-point (rating).
2. BALLOT:
Bush F=0, McCain C=2, Edwards B=3, Kerry B=3, Nader A=4. Every other candidate: D=1 (default).
3. VOTER COMMENTS:
My ballot is deliberately ‘truncated’ to vote only a few non-default-rated candidates. Each default-rated candidate is far less relevant - in terms of perceived chance to win or perceived status and attractive message - than one or more of the actively voted candidates.
In the real world - or even in a realistic fictional one in which voters have finite lifetimes and are encouraged to spend their limited available time making informed deliberative choices rather than blind guesses - the full ballot here is far too long. Either candidate PROXY should be used, or else, using intuitive estimation of probabilities, a typical voter will and SHOULD truncate.
By the way, John McCain’s name is not ‘McCaine’. Don’t confuse with Michael Caine.
Cheers,
Joe Weinstein
_________________________________________________________________
Dream of owning a home? Find out how in the First-time Home Buying Guide. http://special.msn.com/home/firsthome.armx
---- Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
