> > Having considered these issues, there are two refinements I'd > make to SODA: > > - If, after voting, one candidate has an absolute majority OR > is the only > possible winner, they win immediately. > > Sure, I can think an argument for why SODA should elect someone > who's not > the initial majority winner. But I don't relish the thought of > having to > make that argument, either with a politician or with a regular > voter. And in > reality, a majority winner is the correct winner in more than > 95% of the > cases, so let's just save the time and admit that immediately. > > > - If, after voting, one candidate has fewer than 5% of the > votes, their > votes are automatically delegated to the first candidate on > their preference > list who has more than 5% (if any). The receiving candidate > may delegate > them in turn, only if the result thereby obtained or > encouraged is > consistent with the preference order of the original > candidate. (That means > that if minor A's order is B,C,D,E,F, and D is the first one > of those with > more than 5%, and D's order is C,F,X, E,..., then D may > delegate these votes > to C, or to C and F if F is already leading E by a greater > margin than the > number of votes in question, or to C, F, and E if D is > delegating their own > votes to X as well.) > > This appears to be a bigger compromise of principle than the > above. But > consider the "kingmaker" case: in a basically 50/50 split, some > tiny party > has the balance of votes, and manages to extract concessions far > bigger than > their base of support justifies, just in order to [not] delegate those > votes. I think that's unjust, and this rule would prevent it. > > I think that 5% is a good cutoff here; that's tens of millions > of voters, > and enough to deserve a voice. It shouldn't be too high, because > this rule > is effectively taking power away from voters; that's only > justified if the > faction is so small that the power is not legitimate, and so > it's better to > err a bit on the small side if anything. But under 5% - that is, > under 10% > of the winning coalition - doesn't deserve kingmaker power. > > JQ
I like it! Don't be impatient; some of us don't have time to read these things every day. ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info