Abd ul-Rahman Lomax quoted: At 12:01 AM 11/14/2005, James Green-Armytage wrote: >. Issue independence: Even when there are multiple issues on the same >ballot, I should have the option of indicating separate proxies for >separate issues, while still voting directly on other issues, if I choose.
This would appear to be nirvana, but I can't see any practical "method" for implementing it. How does one "vote if I chose" on an "issue?" It has been well-documented that that pollsters get different results on the same issue depending upon how they phrase the yes/no question. I don't see how having multiple delagable proxies can do anything but make an already-intractable problem more complex. If I delegate to A for issues {a,c,e} and to B for {b,d} and I vote on issues {f,g} can we count anything except which issue gets the most support? I talked offlist awhile back with Dave Gamble about Isaac Asimov's 1950s-era short story "Franchise", in which a a single "best fits the profile" voter is selected as a proxy for all voters, and his opinions on all the issues (with control questions on non-issues) uniquely determined the winners of all elections. Cool story. Subsequent to that, I suggested that it might actually be possible to hold an election where each voter anonymously provided input regarding every issue, and separately each candidate filled out the same ballot. A multivariate correlation of voters' responses to candidate's responses would select the "right" candidate. Also science fiction/fantasy, I think, because of the problems involved in formulating the issues. ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info