Ralph, I believe that you misunderstood what I was saying below. It is the relative *number* of candidates who run for office relative to the number of the voters they represent compared to the same ratio for all other candidates that determines whether or not STV achieves proportional representation. I.e. STV is subject to vote splitting or insufficient candidates running to represent any group of voters.
STV has all the same flaws of IRV and is hence unsuitable for use in any elections. Its flaws far outweigh its benefits, esp given the existence of methods that achieve proportional representation more reliably and without causing all the other problems that STV causes. Kathy > >> 3. STV does *not* achieve proportional representation at all unless >> there is no vote splitting and just the right number of candidates run >> who support each group's interests. I.e. the success of methods like >> STV to achieve proportional representation rest in the unlikely >> assumption that just the right proportion of candidates run (or more >> precisely an equal proportion of candidates run) in proportion to the >> number of voters in each separate group. This is just simple >> mathematical fact. > > Generally it does achieve reasonable proportional representation. > Parties might get less than proportional in one constituency and more > than proportionality in another, due to randomness. > > However, the smaller the constituencies the bigger the "seat bonus" > given to larger parties. > > Again, the more seats per constituency, the better, as that gives > better proportionality and makes it easier for smaller parties to get > seats. > -- Kathy Dopp Town of Colonie, NY 12304 phone 518-952-4030 cell 518-505-0220 http://utahcountvotes.org http://electionmathematics.org http://kathydopp.com/serendipity/ Realities Mar Instant Runoff Voting - 18 Flaws and 4 Benefits http://electionmathematics.org/ucvAnalysis/US/RCV-IRV/InstantRunoffVotingFlaws.pdf Voters Have Reason to Worry http://utahcountvotes.org/UT/UtahCountVotes-ThadHall-Response.pdf Checking election outcome accuracy --- Post-election audit sampling http://electionmathematics.org/em-audits/US/PEAuditSamplingMethods.pdf ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
