Democracy might be mathematically impossible – here’s why. Head to https://brilliant.org/veritasium to start your free 30-day trial and get 20% off an annual premium subscription.
bullshit math wizardry are they pulling out of their ass to argue that the exact ranking of each individual candidate
If you're voting in an election with ten candidates, but you only like two of them and equally despise the other eight, the "maths impossibility" arises because you'll have to put a candidate you hate third
Couldn't you just not write a third? This makes no sense to me unless you strictly enforce having a third choice being necessary, which seems random and needless. If someone can just not have a third candidate, or not have a second candidate, I see no reason why that would negatively affect the system. Their vote is just lost if neither of their candidates win with their votes, same as if they didn't go to vote in the first place.
Yes, in Australian Senate elections you only need to rank at least 6 parties above the line or at least 12 individual candidates below the line on the long ballot paper
Show
In practice you might rank all ~100 candidates to try and avoid a couple candidates you hate the most
If you're voting in an election with ten candidates, but you only like two of them and equally despise the other eight, the "maths impossibility" arises because you'll have to put a candidate you hate third
Couldn't you just not write a third? This makes no sense to me unless you strictly enforce having a third choice being necessary, which seems random and needless. If someone can just not have a third candidate, or not have a second candidate, I see no reason why that would negatively affect the system. Their vote is just lost if neither of their candidates win with their votes, same as if they didn't go to vote in the first place.
Yes, in Australian Senate elections you only need to rank at least 6 parties above the line or at least 12 individual candidates below the line on the long ballot paper
In practice you might rank all ~100 candidates to try and avoid a couple candidates you hate the most
I usually just go with the party and stop at 6 or the first major party (that kinda acts like a big wall)