Re: Constitutional amendment: Condorcet/Clone Proof SSD vote tallying

["John H. Robinson, IV" <jaqque@debian.org>]

To: to debian-devel dropped. let's keep the discussion on -vote.

Mark Brown wrote:
> On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 10:12:52AM +0200, Sven Luther wrote:
> 
> > But you cannot know what the situation is, unless you have insider
> > knowledge, the votes are secrets, and the results published only after
> > the election is closed. 
> 
> This doesn't change the fact that there is a chance that by voting
> you'll have an effect other than that which you'd intended.  It's a
> fairly small chance but it's there.

this leaves three choices:

1) one voter decides the entire election (no quorum)
2) the winner potentially loses (per-item quorum)
3) a vote against a proposition causes that proposition to win (per-vote
   quorum)

let's see if we can make the per-item quorum behave like the per-vote
quorum where a vote _against_ an item causes that item to win:

quorum of R=12. two options, plus the default option. a single voter.
1 BA

A.6.2. If the ballot has a quorum requirement R any options other than
       the default option which do not receive at least R votes ranking
       that option above the default option are dropped from
       consideration.

B and A each have only one vote over D, thus B and A are both dropped
from consideration. that leaves one vote for D.

there is no majority ratio, so A.6.3 does not apply. A.6.4 has only D,
so D would win.

thus, in the case of a single voter AGAINST the default option, the
default option wins. this is not very likely, but this is also the case.

under the amendment, A.6.2 is changed thusly:

A.6.2. If the ballot has a quorum requirement R, and less then R votes
       are cast, the entire vote is thrown out.  The amendment may be
       withdrawn, or a discussion period may be resumed at the sponsor's
       discretion.

1<12, so the vote is thrown out. the sponsor may then either withdraw
the proposition, or resume a discussion period.

we see that the proposal suffers the same flaw that amendment is accused
of having. this leaves us with three choices:

1) one voter decides the entire election (no quorum)
2) the winner potentially loses, and a vote against a proposition causes
   that proposition to win (per-item quorum)
3) a vote against a proposition causes that proposition to win (per-vote
   quorum)

-john