Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

For sake of argument, I'll agree with this. So what? If you've eliminated all of the candidates about whom I care, by definition I don't care how the rest of the candidates fare. My ballot no longer should count toward the total cast for the purposes of determining a majority anyway. Only those voters who still care about the remaining candidates should have a voice in making the decision.

Exactly! So if you don't know anything about the candidates, ideally your ballot shouldn't affect those candidates at all, for better or for worse. With Range Voting, that's exactly what happens if someone chooses "no opinion". But with IRV, it's not the same as saying "no opinion", it's the same as if you HATED that candidate and ranked him last.

So in summary, with Range Voting, "no opinion" really means no opinion, and diminishes the harm caused by ignorance.

With IRV "no opinion" means "like that candidate least", which has a negative impact on utility efficiency.