Good discussion. In general I think a strict criterion fulfillment based evaluation of the election methods is not sufficient. Monotonicity can be seen as a property that is always positive but that need not necessarily be always met. It is enough if in the given environment voters need not worry about their vote potentially being non-monotonic (so much that they should consider voting another way).
Also many other criteria have similar properties. There are actually very few that would be fully strict. Condorcet criterion seems to be one that is widely accepted and recommended for competitive compromise seeking elections (excluding Range supporters ;-) (IRV supporters are maybe not seeking for a compromise candidate). I'm inclined towards evaluating methods based on the worst real life examples that can be generated (for the environment in question). It would be good to complement also listed failures of different formal criteria with examples on what will happen when they are not met. Practical examples are good in checking that the assumed threats/ problems are also practical in the sense that they can be implemented/ have influence in real life (with incomplete information and incomplete control of the voters). Juho On Jan 2, 2008, at 17:58 , James Gilmour wrote: > Jobst had written: >>> Also, it seems difficult to sell a method when you must admit that >>> advancing an option X may actually reduce X's winning probability... >>> > Steve replied: >> That doesn't seem to be a problem for the Instant Runoff >> campaign. ;-) >> Do you recall an example where it was difficult to sell a method >> due to >> its non-monotonicity? > > This should be no surprise because, at least in public elections > with hundreds, thousands or ten-of-thousands of voters in each > electoral district, non-monotonicity cannot be exploited either by > the candidates or by the voters. It could be very different in > successive elections by IRV or STV-PR where the whole electorate > was a small committee of, say, ten members - then it MIGHT be > possible for some voters to change their preference patterns to > exploit the non-monotonicity to the benefit of their preferred > candidates. But monotonicity is a completely irrelevant criterion > so far as public elections are concerned. > > James Gilmour > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1206 - Release Date: > 01/01/2008 12:09 > > > ---- > Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for > list info ___________________________________________________________ All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
