Jameson: You said:
Reductio ad absurdem. One voter, two candidates. Preference-based criterion: "If the voter votes for A but actually prefers B, then B should win". [endquote] Remember that you, not I, propose that criterion. You continue: But, people say, what if they meant to vote for A? Nope, you say, doesn't fit the criterion. [endquote] Nonsense. How do you propose to establish that someone preferred the one that s/he voted against, especially if s/he denies it? Your criterion is unusable. You continue: So fine, I can find whether system X meets this criterion [endquote] No, you can't. That's because you have no way of determinng someone's preferences independent of their expression of them. You continue: but we can't have a reasonable conversation about it [endquote] You got that part right. You continue: , because half of the relevant examples are somehow arbitrarily outlawed because they don't "fit". [endquote] No, it's because your criterion relies on unavailable information. You continue: Preference-mentioning criterion: "Imagine the voter prefers B, but due to an epileptic seizure, votes for A. The correct winner in this case would be B. Therefore, whenever we see a vote for A, we should elect B." [endquote] Again, that's _your_ preference-mentioning criterion. Understand that. I agree that your criterion is ridiculous. You continue: I'm just saying that a criterion can be justified on the basis of preferences, but, like the system itself, must ultimately speak in terms of ballots and results. [endquote] Hello? I guess it's necessary to repeat this again: My preference criteria stipulate preferences and relation between preferences and voting. Thereby, they indirectly stipulate about ballots. Mike Ossipoff ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info