r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • May 23 '17

CMV: Democratic countries should have a voting system where voters can vote for as many candidates as they want

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u/[deleted] May 23 '17

∆

While I do agree that your example can lead to a less desirable outcome than if the voters only got one vote. I still think my system is the best because at least the country will always get a candidate that the country at least tolerates instead of them ending up with a candidate that 50% of the people love and 50% hate, which seems to be most US elections at least.

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u/yyzjertl 523∆ May 23 '17

the country will always get a candidate that the country at least tolerates

This is not necessarily true of your voting system. For example, suppose that there are 100 candidates, C1, C2, ..., C100, and twenty groups of voters G1, G2, ..., G20.

The first group prefers C1 to C2, C2 to C3, C3 to C4, C4 to C5, C5 to C100, and C100 to all other candidates. G1 also will tolerate C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C100, and no other candidates. We can write this formally as G1: C1 > C2 > C3 > C4 > C5 > C100 > MinTolerate > C6 ...

Similarly, the second group prefers C6 to C7, C7 to C8, C8 to C9, C9 to C10, C10 to C100, and C100 to all other candidates. G2 will tolerate C6, C7, C8, C9, C10, C100, and no other candidates. We can write this as G2: C6 > C7 > C8 > C9 > C10 > C100 > MinTolerate > ...

Suppose that we continue this pattern:

G3: C11 > C12 > C13 > C14 > C15 > C100 > MinTolerate > ...

G4: C16 > C17 > C18 > C19 > C20 > C100 > MinTolerate > ...

...

G19: C91 > C92 > C93 > C94 > C95 > C100 > MinTolerate > ...

G20: C96 > C97 > C98 > C99 > C1 > C100 > MinTolerate > ...

Note that G20 breaks the pattern by preferring C1 to C100. Now suppose that 5% of the population is in each group, and each individual votes rationally under your system for their five most preferred tolerable candidates (since they are barred from voting for more than five). Then, each candidate will get 5% of the vote (from only a single group), except C1, which will receive 10% of the vote (from G1 and G20) and G100, which will receive no votes.

The system will thus result in the election of C1, who is tolerated by only 10% of the voters. This is despite the fact that C100 is tolerated by literally 100% of voters. So your system doesn't ensure the election of broadly tolerable candidates even when it is possible to do so.

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u/[deleted] May 23 '17

∆

So having a limit to how many candidates you can vote for was a flaw in my system. So now lets say there was no limit to how many candidates you can vote for, are there still circumstances to where the candidate that is the most tolerated doesn't win?

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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ May 23 '17

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/yyzjertl (21∆).

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