I'm just briefly stopping in to make a few comments. Maybe, while I've been away, someone else has already said these things.
CR, too, can benefit from AERLO & ATLO. I defined those terms earlier, but let me repeat them here:
Automatic Equal Ranking Line Option (AERLO):
A voter may draw a line in his raniking, to indicate that if non of his above-line candidates win
(and, in pairwise-count methods, if there's a circular tie that includes candidates above & below that voter's line), then he wants to promote all of his above-line candidates to 1st place, and have the election's ballots recounted.
Of course there's only one extra AERLO count, after any AERLO ballot modifications as described above.
[end of AERLO definition]
Automatic Truncation Line Option (ATLO):
Same as AERLO except replace "promote all of his above-line candidates to 1st place" with "drop all of his below line candidates from his ranking".
[end of ATLO definition]
As I said, CR could benefit from AERLO & ATLO. For that purpose, we can say that "R" stands for rating, rather than ranking.
For the purpose of CR, "promote to 1st place" means "give maximum points to". And "drop from your ranking" means "give minimum points to".
ATLO doesn't really serve a practical purpose in CR, and maybe not in any non-pairwise-count methods. I'll return to ATLO in a minute.
AERLO serves a purpose with CR. Give minimum points to the candidates for whom you wouldn't vote in Approval, but sincerely rate the candidates for whom you'd vote in Approval. Put the AERLO line beneath them--either by indicating a point rating below which you want the AERLO line, or by marking an "M" next those above-line candidates, to indicate that if none of them win then you want to give them maximum points and hold another count.
I said that ATLO doesn't serve a practical purpose here. That's because, if yoiu're going to give to those below-line candidates minimum points if one of them wins, then what point is there in giving them any points to begin with?
Well, you might want to give them points for self-expression. That's a good reason. It's one of the purposes of CR. A CR ideal is to let people be fsree to vote sincerely in CR. Adding ATLO as well as AERLO allows completely sincere CR voting. Your points for your Approval-disfavored candidates is really just a statement rather than a vote that does anything. But your varying points for your Approval-favored candidates is perfectly practically effective. Say X & Y are among your Approval-favored candidates, and you vote full points for X but fewer for Y. In fact, say you give Y minimum points. But you indicate that they're both above your AERLO line. You're casting a fully effective vote for X over Y, and it has full power toward helping X take victorly from Y. But if neither wins, then, via AERLO, youi're giving maximum points to Y too. Because maybe Y was the one who could have beaten someone you really despise.
This lets you vote 2-stage Approval. First, do Approval voting among all the candidates, by making your AERLO line between the approved and disapproved ones. Then, do Approval votinlg among the above-line one, by giving maximum points to those whom you'd approve, among those above-line candidates if only those above-line candidates were in the election, and give minimum points to the rest.
OIf course, you could instead sincerely rate the candidates above your AERLO line if you felt like doing that instead of voting strategically among them. Via AERLO, you're still strategically fully voting them over all of those who are below your AERLO line.
Optional: If you want to express yourself more, and if ATLO is available, make an ATLO line where your AERLO line is, and sincerely rate the candidates below that line. It won't affect the election, but it will allow you to express your relative rating of the below-line candidates.
Mike Ossipoff
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