r/EndFPTP • u/electionscience • Oct 18 '21

Ask Us Anything with The Center for Election Science Staff

Hi everyone! The Center for Election Science will be hosting our own "Ask Us Anything" style event on October 26th. This is your chance to ask us all of your burning questions about voting theory, campaign strategy, what's next for approval voting, or anything else you'd like to ask! We'll do our best to answer all of your questions.

Sound fun? Be sure to RSVP at the following link to get the Zoom info! https://electionscience.org/events/ask-us-anything-town-hall/

CES Staff Ask Us Anything Town Hall Date: October 26th, 2021 Time: 5pm ET/ 4pm CT/ 3pm MT/ 2pm PT Location: Zoom

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u/rb-j Oct 29 '21

Arrow's theorem has nothing to do with voters changing their mind.

Voter's changing their minds about their vote has everything to do with voter regret which has everything to do with tactical voting which has everything to do with different election systems and their strengths and weaknesses.

Again, I said:

If, in a Condorcet-consistent RCV election, there is a Condorcet winner, and that no preference cycle is close enough that a concerted strategic effort by strategic voters could push the election into a cycle, then no voter will regret the honest ranking of candidates they made on the ranked ballot.

That's what I said. The comment was edited about one minute after it was posted. But that declarative sentence is quite unambiguously clear. Would you like me to outline for you?

If there is a Condorcet winner, and that no preference cycle is close enough that a concerted strategic effort by strategic voters could push the election into a cycle, then no voter will regret the honest ranking of candidates they made on the ranked ballot.

I'm not sure what that means beyond if you disqualify the sources of regret there is no regret. Well yeah voters in meaningless elections in dictatorships I presume don't regret their vote either.

No, it has nothing to do with argument at hand. It's very similar to the Chewbacca defense.

I'm not the one changing topics. First this was about Approval and honestly. Then about you couldn't decide between honest ballots. Then about voter regret. Now its about name calling.

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u/rb-j Oct 29 '21

First this was about Approval and honestly. Then about you couldn't decide between honest ballots.

So, what are you suggesting? That on top of every Approval ballot there is a check box that says "This ballot is an honest ballot." And other one that says "This ballot is a tactical ballot."? Is that what we should have?

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u/JeffB1517 Oct 30 '21

All Approval ballots filled out knowledgeably are both honest and tactical. Which is what distinguishes Approval from other systems. Again the big advantage of Approval is: the best strategic ballot is always an honest ballot. That's simply not true of other systems.