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by tptacek 2053 days ago
Sortition is a great way to make everybody in the country feel like they have absolutely no stake in or influence over the federal government, since the odds of any one person being chosen are infinitesimal --- lower than those of being struck by lightning.
2 comments
throwaway2245 2053 days ago
I also dislike sortition, but I don't understand how this is a criticism of sortition. It applies equally to the current situation: any one person is unlikely to become a federal representative.
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twic 2053 days ago
Under the current system, people who don't become representatives get to vote to choose those who do. Under sortition, they don't.
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aidenn0 2053 days ago
The same is true of an election being decided by one vote.
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tptacek 2053 days ago
It seems to me that the exact opposite thing is true of an election decided by one vote.
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tsimionescu 2053 days ago
They probably mean exactly one vote being the deciding vote for an election - 13567 votes for the winner, 13566 votes for the runner-up. Which would be the case where each and every voter's vote mattered.
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thaumasiotes 2053 days ago
> Which would be the case where each and every voter's vote mattered.

Why do the votes for the runner-up matter in that case?

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tsimionescu 2053 days ago
If the vote ends 1000 to 0, then 999 votes haven't mattered at all, all those people could have stayed home and the result would have been the same. If it ends 1000 to 999, then if even one person had stayed home the result would have been different, so each vote was necessary for the current result.
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thaumasiotes 2053 days ago
Something's getting confused somewhere.

If the vote is 1000 to 0, then the result (vote count) will be different if one person stays home -- 999 to 0 -- but the result (victor) will be the same.

Exactly the same thing is true in the case where it's 1000 to 999. If one of the losing voters stays home, you get a different vote count --- 1000 to 998 -- and the same victor. There are 999 people, half the entire electorate, who can stay home without making any meaningful difference at all.

What is the difference that you see?

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aidenn0 2053 days ago
I mean the odds of the result of a federal election changing due to my vote are approximately zero.
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