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by ivanbakel 2611 days ago
But "votes" with tokens aren't votes either. Claiming that a spread of 100 votes has 10x the effect of 10 votes requires some model of the vote - you don't know that 10 votes on a single issue doesn't have an outsized effect on swinging a decision where 100 single votes just bump a number up across the board.

More than anything, the system just places power in compromise, which is nothing new - in a one-vote system, a person who is willing to vote for a centrist politician has more political power than me, a fringe voter, because their influence on the election result is better-felt.

2 comments

There is a problem if there are 99 items to vote for, which are all aligned with each other, more or less, ideologically, and 1 item that is diametrically opposed to these. Someone casting 99 votes for those 99 items has political power over someone trying to concentrate on that one, only able to cast 6. This system works best if all the choices are very distinct.

If numerous choices are really just minor variations of the same choice, that tends to undermines the system with a rather gaping hole. The cynical observer might note that in fact that's the idea behind it: entrench the power of the bland, indistinct choice in leadership.

There are other ways to construct a voting system that places power in compromise without incentivizing weak opinions over strong opinions.