[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ouldn’t both the political will of The People & also the political will of Congress be better measured — that is, more accurately & only more accurately — by a (say) 10-point rating system?

(In fact that is the only difference, provably:

a say 10-point rating system subsumes binary voting & also instant-runoff voting, i believe, because:

• it supports everything they do: rating/voting a ’10’ would be the same as ‘voting for’ (or ‘ranking highest’ in instant-runoff voting (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting)); rating/voting a ‘1’ would be ‘not voting for’ (‘ranking least’ in instant-runoff voting),
• & rating voting also does more: compared to a binary vote, ‘2’ thru ‘9’ would be more nuanced votes, & total rating points p’s ratio to the number of candidates would be the increase in voting accuracy, compared to instant-runoff voting *i believe*.

)

The invention of voting was an epoch-marking invention. But if this provably subsumes its functionality — again, voting for would be the same thing as giving a 10, not voting for would be the same as giving a 1 — as well as instant-runoff (see 2nd point above) — then isn’t it just-better?

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From my cursory vision for this, you would have to allow rating each candidate — which would be no more a popularity contest than voting is —  comparable to instant-runoff voting, instead of expecting people to choose to vote for one candidate with a vote-power-lowering ‘6’, for example, instead of 10.

So e.g. you could give Roger Dodger a 4, because he’s better than Joe Schmoe, who you give a 1 — but John Doe gets a 10, in your book.

This would add up in the complete election & allow for accurate comparisons. i believe this would possibly be more accurate than ranking/run-off voting — since ranking does not capture strength, only relative strength, i.e. ranking. This has more nuance & you could even (at our serious benefit) use a 50 or 100 point rating system.

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It would simply be more accurate – by being more proportionate — to the American people’s political will, as well as (in congress) the congressional body’s political will, than binary yes/no voting. (1*thru* 5 would possibly be taught as no to no,-but, 6 *thru* 10 would be taught as yes,-but to yes.)

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As a final note, this post is a draft, & subject to improvement. 

Thank You For Reading,
Joe Valentyn