Has anybody explored this idea? Make an electrical circuit with a terminal for each candidate.
For each pair of terminals attach a diode that has a different resistance in each direction: the resistance in the direction from candidate i to candidate j is proportional to the number of ballots on which candidate j is ranked above candidate i. After all of the diodes are attached measure the circuit resistance between terminals i and j. The candidate X against whom the maximal resistance is minimal is the winner. Forest ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info