Craig Carey wrote (in part): > > It might seem that in a 6 candidate election, the paper (ABC) is more > about A,B,C, than about D,E,F. But it can be expanded out like this: > > 1(ABC) = ((ABCDEF) + (ABCDFE) + (ABCEDF) + (ABCEFD) + (ABCFDE) + (ABCFED))/6 > > So every single paper is a paper that candidates can hold an interest > for.
Craig, this my be YOUR interpretation, but I do not think it is valid. What an "ABC" voter has told the Returning Officer in a preferential vote election is: 1. I give my vote to A. 2. If A cannot be elected, please transfer my vote to B. 3. If B cannot be elected, please transfer my vote to C. 4. If none of A, B and C can be elected and the choice is among D, E and F, I do not wish to express any view and am content to leave that decision to other voters who have expressed opinions on the relative merits of D, E and F. You may argue that by including all possible combinations of D, E and F and by giving each equal weight (1/6), you have said the same thing, but I do not think it is the same thing at all. I cannot say whether it makes any difference to your voting geometry, as all of that is beyond me, but to me there is a qualitative and quantitative difference between saying that the ABC voter has dropped out when the choice falls among D, E and F and saying that the ABC voter can be assumed to have allocated his or her last preferences equally to all possible combinations of DEF. James ---- For more information about this list (subscribe, unsubscribe, FAQ, etc), please see http://www.eskimo.com/~robla/em
