Comments on: Condorcet voting

By: Maria_Jogova

Maria_Jogova — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:52:42 +0000

Hey Maayan,

Thanks for the comment! I was trying to just describe the basics, as I’m not completely familiar with the system, so I wanted to post something that was straightforward so people would get an idea. Thanks for posting a more detailed version!

By: maayan kreitzman

maayan kreitzman — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:32:07 +0000

Maria,
I'm not sure this is a very accurate description.
The Condorcet system does nothing to address votes based on "popularity". It solves the problem of vote splitting...that is that two more widely-like candidates can lose to a more narrowly-liked candidate despite the fact that they are preferred by more people.

Also, your explanation of the procedure is somewhat confusing I think. Each ballot (in which the voter ranks as many candidates as they wish) is counted a number of times: once for each one-on-one matchup. For each matchup on the ballot, the candidate ranked higher gets a tally - indicating a "win". When all the ballots are counted, there should be an overall winner of each matchup. The candidates are then ordered by combining the results of each matchup. So: In race ABC: in the matchup AB, B was the winner, in the matchup BC, B was the winner, and in the matchup AC, A was the winner, the combined order is B>A>C. B wins the race.

Another clarification: the particular version of the system that we chose is only used for electing a single winner. Other version can be used in multiple rounds to elect more than one person. I think Mark is using something like that for the VFM contest.

By: Maria_Jogova

Maria_Jogova — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:17:07 +0000

I’m not sure FPTP is as bad as _that_- hat lottery means that an incompetent person has as big of a chance of getting elected as a good candidate. At least candidates aren’t always so decisively popular… sometimes the good one does get elected!

By: Justin Yang

Justin Yang — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:05:30 +0000

In theory, I like it. The least offensive, generally most widely acceptable candidate gets picked. That's A++!

In practice, I'll have to see how well people understand it.

I did a POLI 100 essay on the virtues of the German electoral system and how it is, by far, better than FPTP. Nearly anything is better than FPTP aside from randomly picking candidates from a hat. And even that might be more equitable since it doesn't significantly figure popularity into the calculation.

By: Maria_Jogova

Maria_Jogova — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:33:29 +0000

Thank you! Same to you :) But what are your actual thoughts on the system?

By: Justin Yang

Justin Yang — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:10:21 +0000

This has totally nothing to do with your explanation of Condorcet voting but good luck in VFM, Maria (and Gerald?)! :)