In a recent posting I said that the merit of a method depends on what defensive strategy voters need, with that method. In that regard, Approval is better than Margins & IRO, and VA is better than Approval. But there's another issue of merit: when defensive strategy is needed at all. VA is better than any other method, because it doesn't require any defensive strategy unless the offensive strategy of order-reversal is used. Considering how well it deters order-reversal, then in actual use VA probably wouldln't require any defensive strategy. As risky as order-reversal is in VA, it would be unlikely to occur on a scale that could change the election result. Mike
