STV again (was Re: PEP 308 vote type (was Re: Update to PEP308: if-then-else expression))

[Erik Max Francis]

Terry Reedy wrote:

> Here is a 'do both' compromise.  List alternatives A, B, C, ... with
> 'do-nothing' at top or bottom.  Voting instruction: list alternatives
> in order of preference, and use a vertical bar '|' to separate
> acceptable from unacceptable alternatives.  Example: CA|BD.  Then the
> votes could be analyzed both as preference votes and and approval
> votes.  (Python makes this pretty simple to do 8-).  Given that the
> vote is advisory, multiple analyses are acceptible, even with varying
> results.

There's another issue here which nobody has yet addressed.  If you're
going to hold a public vote, it should be pretty straightforward to
understand how to do it.  If the voting process itself requires five
paragraphs description, I think you're talking about a bad voting
process.

Approval voting has the benefit of being very simple to explain: 
"Select as many or as few as you want."

-- 
 Erik Max Francis / max at alcyone.com / http://www.alcyone.com/max/
 __ San Jose, CA, USA / 37 20 N 121 53 W / &tSftDotIotE
/  \ You cannot step into the same river once.
\__/ Cratylus
    Python chess module / http://www.alcyone.com/pyos/chess/
 A chess game adjudicator in Python.