Re:Approval Voting versus Instant Runoff Voting
by BorgHunter on Thursday April 04, 2019 @09:42AM
(#19572156)
> So we are left with 'establishment' mediocrity instead of the most popular result.
In this case, Left is the most democratic winner of the race, also known as the Condorcet winner (assuming Right supporters would support Left over Far Left in a two-person race between them). However, not all elections have a Condorcet winner. Also however, approval voting doesn't guarantee the Condorcet winner wins the race (if one exists), but it's an improvement over FPTP.
Re:Approval Voting versus Instant Runoff Voting
by incog-neato on Thursday April 04, 2019 @09:39AM
(#19572119)
"Left" and "Right" are nearly meaningless when people can have stances on an issue-by-issue basis. As someone who has important disagreements with both big US parties, some would call me a moderate, and I feel disenfranchised by the current system, which doesn't let me pick the person whom I agree with most.
Re:Approval Voting versus Instant Runoff Voting
by jnty on Thursday April 04, 2019 @11:20AM
(#19573333)
They're merely labels. You can imagine 'far left' as 'centrist'. I was going to name them A, B and Z but wanted to get across that Far Left voters might prefer to compromise on Left than Right, but might prefer Right to Far Right. Clearly this is going to be a more nuanced decision in real life.
Re:Approval Voting versus Instant Runoff Voting
by duxup on Thursday April 04, 2019 @09:27AM
(#19572000)
I don't know what you mean by "'establishment' mediocrity".
Nothing in your example means that the "Left" has to be "establishment" or "mediocrity".
Let's say you a Right and Left party, and breakout Far Left which is actually very popular but has previously lacked electoral support due to its 'outsider' status.
People's favourites might look like this:
Right: 30% Left: 30% Far left: 40%
However, 75% of Far Left favourites actually vote for Left too, because they prefer them to right. This ends up with the following result:
Right: 30% Left: 60% Far left: 40%
So we are left with 'establishment' mediocrity instead of the most popular result.
Is this OK because a majority of people don't actually want 'far left'? Maybe. Intuitively though, I think taking preferences away will freak people out, particularly in situations where there might be different levels - what if there was a Far Right party that Far Left voters really don't want in - would some end up voting for Right to avoid that happening? They might win despite having 70% unpopularity!
I'd prefer difficult counting processes over a blunting of people's democratic will.