Russ, you wrote:
>I can explain RAV/DMC tally rule in nearly complete detail in one
>sentence: "eliminate the least-approved candidate until a CW is found."
>The only thing left is how to deal with numerical ties. Your explanation
>is a high-level explanation that "glosses over" the details, yet it is
>still significantly more verbose than my explanation.
>I'll give you an "A" for effort and creativity, but as I said before, I
>think your AWP method is just too complicated for public acceptance. I
>suggest that you try to explain AWP to several people "off the street."
>See how long it takes to get them to the point where they can explain it
>back accurately and in enough detail to implement it. I think you will
>be disappointed in most cases.
I'll agree that RAV has a significantly shorter definition than AWP. On
the other hand, AWP has greater resistance to strategy. The relative
importance of these two factors should be decided on a case-by-case basis,
that is, in a particular electorate considering a change to a new voting
system.
Thus, rather than saying that one method or the other is useless, I
suggest that we should direct our discussion towards clarifying the
relative pros and cons of the different systems. Relevant questions are
grouped into at least two categories, i.e. strategy/technical merit and
explainability:
Strategy/technical merit... Is AWP more strategy-resistant than RAV/DMC?
How strategically vulnerable is RAV/DMC? How strategically vulnerable is
AWP? What is the likelihood that strategic vulnerability in RAV/DMC will
lead to abuse, or push voters into making extensive use of compromising
counterstrategy? When one takes its strategic vulnerabilities, which
systems is RAV/DMC technically preferable to? (E.g. plurality? runoff?
IRV? CWO-IRV? margins? WV?) Likewise, which systems is AWP technically
preferable to? (By "technically preferable", I mean preferable from a
standpoint that is not sensitive to factors like explainability.)
Explainability... Is RAV/DMC easier to explain than AWP? What is the
simplest way to explain RAV/DMC? What is the simplest way to explain AWP?
In what kinds of electorates might RAV/DMC be able to gain public
acceptance? In what kinds of electorates might AWP be able to gain public
acceptance?
I suggest that we should address these separate question groups in
separate messages and threads.
my best,
James
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