DC> SB> There is a reason that real-world politics count abstentions DC> SB> along with yes and no votes. It has to be a majority vote; the DC> SB> majority of *all* votes, including abstentions, must be either DC> SB> yes or no.
DC> This is not correct, at least for elections that I'm familiar with, DC> in the USA. We count *ONLY* YES votes. You do not need a majority DC> of all votes, you simply need more YES votes than the number of YES DC> votes that your opponent gets. That's it. There are no NO votes, and DC> there are millions of abstentions, which just means.... nothing.
SB> Um, wouldn't a vote for your opponent automatically be a vote SB> against you, or a 'no'? Just sayin...
Well, in effect it would be, sort of. But, that wasn't the point. I was debating your claim that in real-world politics, "no" votes and abstentions are counted. They are not, because there *ARE* no "no" votes. When I look at my election ballot, I can choose to vote for *ONE* candidate, which is a "yes" vote. There is no choice to pencil in for a "no" vote. It is NOT a majority vote to win an election. It is simply a matter of getting more YES votes than your opponent(s). Which is what I said there above...
SB> Unfortunately, the FTSC election has already stepped out of the SB> realm of the presidential election you're familiar with/referring SB> to. There are three candidates, and any combination of the three SB> could be voted in. This would be more akin to voting in members SB> of a city council, wouldn't it? And in that case, it is indeed a SB> majority decision, at least in the small part of the world I call SB> home.
Yes, the FTSC example is more like a city council thing. The point is that you don't need a majority (of all the people voting) to get in, you simply need more YES votes than NO votes. There is a difference.
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