On Sep 6, 2005, at 04:47, Warren Smith wrote:
So. from the point of view of US third parties,
1. all Condorcet methods plausibly lead
to 2-party domination, though we cannot be sure,
2. all are more complicated
than range voting, and
3. range voting apparently does NOT lead to 2-party domination.
Therefore, US third parties should push range voting in preference
to all Condorcet methods. (Doing the reverse would be
idiotic/suicidal, name
your favorite adjective.)
You are probably using stronger expressions that many people on this
list would be prepared to use. How about the following slightly
modified formulation? It may be a bit soft for your taste but more
approvable at least to me ;-).
--modified text--
So. from the point of view of US third parties,
1. all Condorcet methods have some tendency to lead
to 2-party domination, though we cannot be sure if the shift would
happen in real life,
2. all are more complicated
than range voting in some aspects (e.g. calculation of results), and
3. range voting has NOT been shown to lead to 2-party domination.
Therefore, US third parties could consider also range voting in addition
to the Condorcet methods. (Doing the reverse could mean not
understanding all the relative merits that different election methods
may offer.)
--end modified text--
On point 3. I have also an extra comment. If sincere range voting
preferences are A:100, B:80, C:0 and the voter strategically votes
A:100, B:100, C:0, isn't that also one type of favourite betrayal that
weakens the position of the (small party) candidate A? The Electowiki
definition of FBC talks about "voting someone over his favourite", but
in range voting already making the gap between A and B smaller has
influence (unlike in ranking based methods) and could be considered a
"betrayal". And giving less support to small parties could lead to
2-party domination.
BR, Juho
P.S. Note also that one member districts and "winner takes all the
seats" practice are also quite meaningful when it comes to creating or
maintaining two-party systems. And note that many people promote
Condorcet methods because of their tendency to reduce the 2-party
domination of the currently used voting methods.
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