E Pluribus Hugo in one paragraph

For those who can’t get their hear around the maths behind E Pluribus Hugo, think of it like this. You have one vote, and it goes to whichever of your nominations turns out to be the most popular with other voters.

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4 Responses to E Pluribus Hugo in one paragraph

  1. David Meadows says:

    So in other words, “I like all these but I’ll let somebody else pick which one of them I like best.”

  2. Tim Hall says:

    It’s an oversimplification, but yes.

  3. David Meadows says:

    I can see the attraction of the system. Quite often I would be happy if any one of a number of “favourites” won, and ranking choices is sometimes impossible (and thus ultimately arbitrary). As long as the system also includes the option of making just *one* nomination when you do actually have a single clear favourite, I think it’s workable.

    Not that I have ever voted or an ever likely to vote in Hugos. But as a general democratic principle, I like this one.

  4. Tim Hall says:

    The most important thing is that it’s a proportional system, and I am all in favour of proportional systems. It’s designed to ensure that the nominations reflect as wide a cross-section of the voters as possible.