Comments on: Al Franken actually won by a landslide https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/ Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:30:45 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: davem https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540250 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:30:45 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540250 Single transferable vote (STV) is the way ahead. All those votes for a third party would have been transferred to the two leaders. Franken would have won easily. Democracy would have been served. In November.

]]> By: travc https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540249 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:24:23 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540249 One more thing… plurality voting systems tend to lead to candidates with an relatively extremist “base” getting elected. That is a bad thing IMO.

]]> By: travc https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540248 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:18:26 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540248 Can we get a more sensible electoral system please. “Instant runoff” or some other variety of ranking system would do a much better job assessing the “will of the electorate” than the insanely crappy (and archaic) plurality system we use now.

Yeah, every electoral system (I know of at least) has some weaknesses and potential pathologies. However, the probability of those coming into play for most ranking voting systems is much much much smaller than for plurality.

Oh, and could we actually have some people who understand measurement and statistics involved? The Colman-Franken election was similar to Bush-Gore in Florida (though a bit less dramatically clear). It is quite clear to a high confidence who won on an ‘intent of the voters’ basis. (In Bush-Gore the differential error rates of voting equipment alone put the “true” results in Gore’s favor to a high certainty.)

PS: FiveThirtyEight.com had a good analysis way back when basically pointing out that the race was almost certainly not really “close”, but hinged (quite non-linearly) on how many ballots were not initially counted but where the ‘intent of the voter’ could be deduced. IE: Actually count the votes more accurately and Franken would win decisively. (Sorry no link… I can’t find the original post anymore.)

]]> By: Jason Thibeault https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540247 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:37:43 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540247 There was a third party? Jeez. I had no idea. Sucks that he acted as such a spoiler for Al, as he brought him within a hair’s breadth of losing to Coleman’s shenanigans.

]]> By: bob koepp https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540246 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:34:25 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540246 Franken did, I’m sure, garner some sympathy from those who recognized that Coleman’s protracted, pointless challenges were an insult to fellow citizens. But even in the short time he has been “on the job”, Frnken has handled himself very well. I was especially pleased to see that he used humor very effectively in the Sotomayor hearings. Fresh air in an otherwise stale, stifling environmnet. Go Al!

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540245 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:23:45 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540245 Bob, it is not pointless as long as people keep complaining that he only won by 300 points, that is was essentially an even election, tha the didn’t really win, etc. etc.

Otherwise it is pretty pointless.

]]> By: NewEnglandBob https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540244 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:18:02 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/07/21/al-franken-actually-won-by-a-l/#comment-540244 This is a case of shoulda, coulda, woulda. It is pointless.

He will do a good job, or not, and next time people will get to vote on that job performance.

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