My basic use-case for this technique is when the first phase is simple bloc approval voting that filters out anyone with more than, say, 75% disapproval (this threshold is a parameter), and the second phase is some proportional approval voting method.

I would do the opposite: filter out anyone who would skew proportionality then apply a single winner method.

Equal Vote as an org doesn't endorse any systems that don't eliminate vote-splitting and/or that waste ballot data, so MMP and STV don't pass our minimum bar but 'terrible' is a strong word. There are clearly pros and cons.

Hi Sara,

Point of clarification. My quote labels Party List and Single Member Plurality as terrible not MMP. I don't think that is too strong of a work for them (speak as me not as a director of equal vote. MMP is mediocre.

I was wondering if anyone has written or thought about early elimination of candidates for the single transferable vote method.

I am aware STV is not precinct summable, nor can it be made precinct summable, because the outcome relies on the flows of ballots. However, I can imagine situations in which, even with only some ballots received, it's mathematically impossible for certain candidates to reach quota, and so we might wish to eliminated them early.

Unfortunately, depending on the counting method, even the order in which candidates are eliminated can affect the outcome of STV. So I suppose I'm actually looking for an answer to the question: is it possible to tell when a candidate can't win and can't change the count by being eliminated later, and if so, how.

Also, a related second question: I believe I have heard that the Meek counting rule makes elimination ordering not matter, but I can't find a source. Is this true, and if so, could someone point me at a good proof as to why this is so.

Thanks!

So basically, when uncertainty is involved, failure doesn’t always indicate a poor strategy, not any more than success indicates a good one. This reduces my confidence that business dictatorships actually tend to promote the success of a company.