This is James Green-Armytage replying to Markus Schulze. >Dear James Green-Armytage, >please read: >1) chapter "Super-Majorities" of http://www.condorcet.org/rp/details.shtml >2) appendix 5 of >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/election-methods-list/files/schulze1.zip >Markus Schulze
Dear Markus, Thank you very much for replying. I have read what you asked me to read. I was not aware of those pieces, and I found them interesting. These ideas are clearly very similar to what I have proposed more recently, but are any of them identical? Here again is my primary proposal: First determine the winner of the base method, then check to see if the winner is preferred to the status quo by a supermajority. If it isn't, the status quo remains in place. This is a relatively strict standard, but it cuts down on tactical ranking of the status quo, which should be valuable in situations where a genuine supermajority is sought. My opinion is that analysis of methods proposed for use in high-stakes situations should focus on how the methods will behave when voters pursue strategic incentives. I'm fairly sure that Blake's proposal is not identical to mine. As to your proposal, it's a bit hard for me to read your mathematical language, but it doesn't look like the same thing to me so far. Is it? Would you mind translating your proposal into words? I see a basic question emerging: Should we first eliminate candidates not preferred by a supermajority over the status quo, and then proceed with the base method, or should we find the base winner first? Let me give shorthand names to these two basic approaches: base-first supermajority (B1SM) and qualification-first (Q1SM). There may be tricky tactical implications in both approaches... perhaps we can try to untangle them. It seems that in B1SM, there may often be an incentive to insincerely compromise in favor of an option that seems more likely to win by supermajority over the status quo. In Q1SM, there may often be an incentive to insincerely bury a candidate under the status quo, in order to help a candidate other than the sincere base winner. I look forward to further inquiry in this area. all my best, James ---- Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info