Andrew Myers wrote: > I think we should be a little more careful here. Just because a > voter's vote has no effect on the outcome of an election does not > mean that the vote has no effect. By voting you are affecting the > margin of victory or defeat. And vote margins still matter to > politicians -- they signal whether the politicians are taking the > right positions and making convincing arguments.
It's a real effect, I agree. I was in off-list discussions about this earlier. The first section (not yet drafted) will have to address exceptions such as this. But it would be difficult to base a counter-argument on this. There's a catch in that we're constrained to talking about a single unit of difference in the least significant digits of the result, or in the margin of victory. -- Michael Allan Toronto, +1 416-699-9528 http://zelea.com/ Andrew Myers wrote: > On 7/22/64 2:59 PM, Michael Allan wrote: > > Dear Juho and Fred, > > > >>> Your vote never made a difference. Most people feel uncomfortable > >>> or perplexed in this knowledge, and I think the feeling indicates > >>> that something's wrong. > > > > Juho Laatu wrote: > >> I'm not sure that most people feel uncomfortable with this. Many > >> have learned to live as part of the surrounding society, and they > >> don't expect their vote to be the one that should decide between two > >> alternatives. > > > > I certainly never expected my own vote to be decisive in an election. > > But knowing it has *no* effect on the outcome? This is unexpected and > > makes me uneasy. (more below) > > I think we should be a little more careful here. Just because a voter's > vote has no effect on the outcome of an election does not mean that the > vote has no effect. By voting you are affecting the margin of victory > or defeat. And vote margins still matter to politicians -- they signal > whether the politicians are taking the right positions and making > convincing arguments. > > -- Andrew ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
