[extropy-chat] Fahrenheit 911 - objective review?

[Patrick Wilken]

On 14 Aug 2004, at 10:45, David wrote:
> We also use Preferential Voting.  There is a quick explanation of each 
> here:
>
> http://www.eca.gov.au/systems/single/by_category/preferential.htm
>
> http://www.eca.gov.au/systems/proportional/proportion_rep.htm
>
> One of the benefits of the preferential system is that by listing your 
> preferences in the right order you can make a 'protest vote' for a 
> small party candidate while still having your vote count towards the 
> major candidate that you dislike least.

It also stops the possibility of a candidate being a spoiler. The 
concept is simply illogical under a proportional voting scheme. If the 
US had proportional voting Bush presumably not have been elected due to 
proportionally more Nader voters choosing Gore as their 2nd preference.

However, under a proportional voting scheme the overall landscape of 
candidates would change. So Gore/Bush might not even be serious 
candidates. I suspect both major parties would have to undergo major 
overhauls.

best, patrick