There are those who feel that Preference Voting (A > B > C) is a good way to
go (although there is disagreement as how best to score such votes).
I ask any such proponents to address the following conundrum:
Consider 4 voters, with the following opinions.
Voter 1 likes all three candidates, but considers A superior and B
second-best.
Voter 2 likes A and B (A slightly better) and thinks C is awful.
Voter 3 likes A, thinks B is quite poor, and thinks C is abysmal.
Voter 4 dislikes all three choices. A is bad, B is worse, C is horrible.
Under Preference Voting, ALL FOUR VOTERS WILL CAST AN IDENTICAL VOTE -
A > B > C
Yet it would be improper to suggest that all four voters have the same views.
Why does it make sense to support a voting system which lumps such disparate
opinions into the same vote? Any scoring system can only use the data
provided to it - how can we possibly expect a good result if the input data
is insufficient?
Any/all replies welcome.
Mike Saari
