A SIMPLE CHARACTERIZATION OF PLURALITY RULE

We consider the problem of electing candidates in situations where the number of candidates and the number of voters may vary. An election c onsists of a set of candidates and a set of voters. A voting rule asso ciates a non-empty subset of candidates with each election. We show th at there is only one rule that satisfies neutrality, anonymity, indepe ndence of dominated candidates, and reinforcement. The rule is known a s plurality rule: It elects the candidates that are ranked first by th e largest number of voters. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.