I sent this to NY Greens:
Glad to see more thinking.
Agree that PR needs consideration for legislatures. For single seat
we need careful thought as to where to go if leaving Plurality.
Plurality NEEDS primaries to attend to clones within parties - and
primaries are not enough when clones get nominated in multiple parties.
IRV allows good voter response when there are clones.
Condorcet allows voters to respond a bit better, for it allows equal
ranking with the same ranked voting.
Plurality NEEDS runoffs when counts approach ties. TTR helps, but
does not solve here, for the best liked may not get counted as first
or second in the voting.
IRV allows voters to express their thoughts, but does not read all
that the voters say - see Burlington in 2009, where IRV counted as
third the candidate human counters saw as first:
After disposing of two minor candidates we see 2981 Kiss, 3294
Wright, 2554 Montroll.
With M losing, add 1332 M>K & 767 M>W and Kiss wins, BUT IRV
does not see what Condorcet would see:
Add 2043 K>M & 371 K>W and see M liked better than W or
Add 1513 W>M & 495 W>K and see M liked better than K,
Meaning human counters, and Condorcet, can see Montroll deserving.
Are we in a cycle? No, for M is CW.
Near a M>K>W>M cycle? Change some M>W to W>M.
Near a M>W>K>M cycle? Change some K>W & M>K to W>K & K>M.
Condorcet counts all that the voters vote.
But, when is a runoff worth its expense. First, it better be among
deserving leaders. TTR gets in trouble in Plurality. IRV got in
trouble in Burlington.
Why not accept near ties, and do such as flip a coin?
How big a lead does the leader need to deserve being called
winner without a runoff? Quite a ways with Plurality or IRV; not far
with Condorcet, for the voters have expressed their desires more
completely and the counters have counted all that their ballots say.
Needs careful thought, but I claim for Condorcet that if the
lead is too big to deserve getting called a tie, it is big enough to
be called a win.
So I claim, for Condorcet, not needing primaries or runoffs, election
should be done in one day, in November.
Write-ins? Should be permitted for those not nominated, and counted
as if nominated.
CA Proposition 14? I have seen different descriptions of what this is
but if it involves Plurality, TTR, or IRV, I have written against such
above.
Dave Ketchum
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