Re: Ties in Elections

On Fri, Feb 07, 2003 at 10:21:06AM -0600, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> >>"Branden" == Branden Robinson / SPI Treasurer <branden+spi-treasurer(at)deadbeast(dot)net> writes:
>
> > Oh, certainly. I agree that such an option permits an added degree of
> > expressiveness, which is a valuable thing. My point was simply that I'm
> > not sure if this is a characteristic of the Condorcet Method per
> > se.
>
> Eh? Why wouldn't the "None of the above" option be yet another
> option as far as condorcet is concerned?

Because it generally affects the outcome in a way the other options
don't. At the very least, the ballot instructions need to make it clear
to the voter what this effect would be.

> I see. I suggest you check out debian-vote over the last few
> months, where this has been debated at length; Debian's current
> voting methods draft states that a default option ("further
> discussion" , nominally) exists unless otherwise stated -- and that
> means most votes shall indeed have a default option.

You appear to have overlooked some words of mine in this thread:

Message-ID: <20030207050432(dot)GD17341(at)deadbeast(dot)net>
Hmm. I may be misunderstanding Condorcet, having been polluted by
months of chatter on debian-vote about properties that Condorcet does
not possess, like "quorum"[1], "supermajority", and "default option".

You also appear to have forgotten my partipation in debian-vote over the
last few months on the very subject upon which you charge I am ignorant:

Message-ID: <20021113175459(dot)GK16954(at)apocalypse(dot)deadbeast(dot)net>
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(Alternatively, one can simply browse
<URL:http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2002/debian-vote-200211/threads.html>
and search the page for the string "Branden Robinson".)

Therefore, I suggest you refresh your own memory. I find it a little
disappointing that you would encourage people to draw inferences that
you know to be false.

--
G. Branden Robinson, Treasurer
Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
treasurer(at)spi-inc(dot)org
http://www.spi-inc.org/