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Reading about this process always makes me wonder: in a particular round, was an elector allowed to choose someone who had already been chosen in a previous rou

by meew0 1y ago

Reading about this process always makes me wonder: in a particular round, was an elector allowed to choose someone who had already been chosen in a previous round? And if yes, to what extent was this done in practice? Depending on this detail, the character of this election process changes completely, since if repeats are allowed, it could easily degenerate into an oligarchy of ~50 people consistently choosing candidates from among their ranks.

rapht 1y ago
Agreed. Also, could an elector be nominated to the next round? (i.e. does becoming an elector prevent you from winning the election)
pie_flavor 1y ago
When fifty decisionmakers are involved, nothing whatsoever could occur 'easily'. That is more or less the purpose of the system.
- andrewflnr 1y ago
  Eh, there will be a lot they don't agree on, but they could very easily agree on lots of stuff that's detrimental to the populace, i.e. mainly agree on who gets the spoils of exploiting the government. That's plenty to incentivize them to limit their competition to just each other.
  - pie_flavor 1y ago
    No, they could not agree on who gets the 'spoils of exploiting the government', because (a) the whole concept is mostly fictional narrativizing, and (b) neither one person getting something, nor everyone splitting something equally, is something fifty important people can agree on, and the exact percentage split could be bickered over for a decade.
    - andrewflnr 1y ago
      To be clear, I meant to say "mainly disagree on who gets the spoils" etc, but didn't notice until too late. (that might sound like a lame excuse, but I agree it obviously doesn't make sense as written.) We seem to be in vague agreement on that mechanic. But I think it's pretty plausible that an oligarchy would agree on keeping access to the pie, even as they fight over the size of their slices. Which, in the original context of designing a voting system, is a very relevant concern.

by meew0 1y ago

rapht 1y ago

Agreed. Also, could an elector be nominated to the next round? (i.e. does becoming an elector prevent you from winning the election)

pie_flavor 1y ago

When fifty decisionmakers are involved, nothing whatsoever could occur 'easily'. That is more or less the purpose of the system.

andrewflnr 1y ago
Eh, there will be a lot they don't agree on, but they could very easily agree on lots of stuff that's detrimental to the populace, i.e. mainly agree on who gets the spoils of exploiting the government. That's plenty to incentivize them to limit their competition to just each other.
- pie_flavor 1y ago
  No, they could not agree on who gets the 'spoils of exploiting the government', because (a) the whole concept is mostly fictional narrativizing, and (b) neither one person getting something, nor everyone splitting something equally, is something fifty important people can agree on, and the exact percentage split could be bickered over for a decade.
  - andrewflnr 1y ago
    To be clear, I meant to say "mainly disagree on who gets the spoils" etc, but didn't notice until too late. (that might sound like a lame excuse, but I agree it obviously doesn't make sense as written.) We seem to be in vague agreement on that mechanic. But I think it's pretty plausible that an oligarchy would agree on keeping access to the pie, even as they fight over the size of their slices. Which, in the original context of designing a voting system, is a very relevant concern.