Dear all, have the properties of hybrid or generalized ranking/approval ballots been examined? A hybrid/generalized ranking/approval ballot is a ballot, with where the voter ranks the candidates by either > or = without any other restrictions. Say we have seven candidates ABCDEFG. Say the voter likes A the most, then BC the same, then DE the same and last FG. Then instead of having the ranking A>B>C>D>E>F>G, or some approval of ABC for instance, the ballot would look like A>B=C>D=E>F=G. For this type of ballot, the approval and ranked ballot would be a special case. I speculate that, such a hybrid ballot might take the best of two worlds: the expressiveness of the fully ranked ballot and the robustness of the approval voting ballot.
The voters (at least I) would most likely appreciate this liberation of their preferences, since they might themselves decide to use a fully ranked ballot, an approval ballot or something inbetween. It seems that for instance the Schulze single-winner method allows for a simplified hybrid system, as it allows for not listing all candidates. Would be nice to know your thoughts on this. Are hybrid ranked ballots a good idea? Would your preferred methods be able to handle hybrid? Best regards Peter Zborník
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