SO, the cardinals are to elect a new pope. Well, it’s difficult
to choose someone who is excellent when everyone is already very
good, and a lot depends on the agenda: who do you vote for
first? In 1179, they introduced weighted majority voting, but
that still meant the agenda was open to manipulation. So in
1435, Cardinal Nicholas Cusanus proposed a preferential vote:
every cardinal is a candidate; each cardinal chooses his top ten
in order of preference; and the candidate with the highest
average preference is the winner. Perfect, “and believe me”,
said the same Nicholas of Cusa, “no more perfect system can be
found”. The Borda count is difficult to predict, the outcome
difficult to control; in other words, the procedure is very
democratic. Alas, his suggestion was rejected, and still they
use binary votes – yes or no, for or against – the most
inaccurate measure of collective opinion ever invented. The
Director, the de Borda Institute Northern Ireland