Instant-runoff voting question
Aug. 17th, 2014 05:02 pmSo, I'm watching the Hugo results, and a question has occurred to me. I expect Kevin Standlee will be *just a little busy* today, but he'll probably find this post sometime Tuesday because I said "Hugo Award" and "Hugo Voting" and answer. In the mean time, anyone know what happens in IRV when there's someone who *everyone* likes second-best?
Imagine a degenerate situation. 5 nominees, A B C D and E. First place votes are split almost evenly between A-D, with E getting zero first-place votes. EVERY SINGLE PERSON picked E as their second choice, no third or subsequent choices.
Round 1, E is eliminated, with no votes transferring.
Round 2, D is eliminated, all votes transferring to E (and thus into the void?)
Round 3, C is eliminated, all votes transferring to E. Were E still in the race, it would be firmly in the lead with slightly less than 50% of votes, to A and B's ~25%ish.
Round 4, A and B are remaining, with A having more votes than B. A wins. If E hadn't been eliminated, B would be eliminated, putting E firmly into first place with ~75% of the vote.
Is that actually how it works?
I realise my example is particularly degenerate, but it seems correct. And also Just Wrong(tm).
(In the mean time: Charlie Stross' My Little Pony/Lovecraft fanfic won a Hugo! That's awesome.)
EDIT: Oh sure, let's just throw my Hugo comments here, too: this is the first year I can remember where I've really liked all the winners. Gravity won best picture (and deserved it. Yes, it IS science fiction, all of those orbital mechanics bits, and the premise, are impossible. But it was great), the Rains Of Castamere was my second choice for Best Doctor Who Episode Written By Stephen Moffat but it wasn't a bad choice. The Short Story Hugo could have gone to *anyone* and it would have been good, and John Chu's entry was great. Ann Leckie took the triple crown, Kameron Hurley took home *2.5* awards[1] and deserved it, and the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit Slate found themselves all fighting hard to stay above No Award, not always succeeding. It's funny how being terrible writers, writing bad works, and getting them nominated entirely by faux-victim political posturing doesn't actually win awards.
[1]: Best Fan Writer, Best Related Work, and the winners of Best Fanzine credit her (and her Best Related Work winner) for getting them into the running for Best Fanzine. They won on their own merits, but they thanked her for making people aware of them, and that's awesome.
Imagine a degenerate situation. 5 nominees, A B C D and E. First place votes are split almost evenly between A-D, with E getting zero first-place votes. EVERY SINGLE PERSON picked E as their second choice, no third or subsequent choices.
Round 1, E is eliminated, with no votes transferring.
Round 2, D is eliminated, all votes transferring to E (and thus into the void?)
Round 3, C is eliminated, all votes transferring to E. Were E still in the race, it would be firmly in the lead with slightly less than 50% of votes, to A and B's ~25%ish.
Round 4, A and B are remaining, with A having more votes than B. A wins. If E hadn't been eliminated, B would be eliminated, putting E firmly into first place with ~75% of the vote.
Is that actually how it works?
I realise my example is particularly degenerate, but it seems correct. And also Just Wrong(tm).
(In the mean time: Charlie Stross' My Little Pony/Lovecraft fanfic won a Hugo! That's awesome.)
EDIT: Oh sure, let's just throw my Hugo comments here, too: this is the first year I can remember where I've really liked all the winners. Gravity won best picture (and deserved it. Yes, it IS science fiction, all of those orbital mechanics bits, and the premise, are impossible. But it was great), the Rains Of Castamere was my second choice for Best Doctor Who Episode Written By Stephen Moffat but it wasn't a bad choice. The Short Story Hugo could have gone to *anyone* and it would have been good, and John Chu's entry was great. Ann Leckie took the triple crown, Kameron Hurley took home *2.5* awards[1] and deserved it, and the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit Slate found themselves all fighting hard to stay above No Award, not always succeeding. It's funny how being terrible writers, writing bad works, and getting them nominated entirely by faux-victim political posturing doesn't actually win awards.
[1]: Best Fan Writer, Best Related Work, and the winners of Best Fanzine credit her (and her Best Related Work winner) for getting them into the running for Best Fanzine. They won on their own merits, but they thanked her for making people aware of them, and that's awesome.