Wasted votes: Difference between revisions

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A 2nd possible generalization of the previous generalized definition of wasted votes to methods that do not pass the [[Participation criterion]] is as fallows:

The number of wasted votes is equal to number of votes in the largest possible set of votes such that for any possible subset of votes in this set, removing those votes cannot change the election result if none of the voters who's votes are in that subset ~~prefers~~ the new election result to the old one.

The number of wasted votes is equal to number of votes in the largest possible set of votes such that for any possible subset of votes in this set, removing those votes cannot change the election result if none of the voters who's votes are in that subset prefer the new election result to the old one.

Note that for methods that allow voters to omit preferences between candidates, calculating this metric exactly (footnote 2) requires knowing not just all of the votes used in the election to calculate, but also the preferences of all of the voters casting those votes. This means that this metric is no-longer defined by just the raw votes, as under such methods, multiple elections in which the exact same votes are cast can have different numbers of wasted votes depending on the voters casting those votes.