Voting-Based Group Decision
Pick a voting rule whose guarantees fit the group decision, then combine the agents' votes under that rule while being clear about its limits.
Description
Turn many agents' differing preferences into one group decision by choosing a voting rule that fits what the group needs. Different rules guarantee different things, such as picking a clear pairwise winner, rewarding honest votes, or dividing things fairly. The methodology is the procedure for choosing the rule, collecting votes in the right form, and admitting the limits no rule can escape (the Arrow and Gibbard-Satterthwaite results). It is more than just defaulting to majority vote. The rule choice is itself the design decision, and different rules can pick different winners from the very same votes.
When to apply
Use this when several agents hold different preferences over a fixed set of options and one group choice must be made. Examples are ranking tasks, choosing among options, voting on a config, or settling a multi-agent debate. Don't apply it when one agent's preference is authoritative; just defer to it. Skip it when preferences cannot be put into words; a numeric score may be more honest than a forced ranking. One exception: even with a single agent, a voting rule can combine several internal critics or model votes.
What it involves
- Collect preferences in the right form
- Rank the guarantees you need
- Pick a rule whose guarantees match
- Run the count
- Document where the rule can be gamed
- Audit ballots and outcomes
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