Democratic Voting Theory

• Examples from Dr. Kracht

  (pdf files)
  
  • Leader of the Year Election. This is a hand-out that I prepared for an activity for my girl scout troop when they were working on a mathematics badge. This is a good starting point as it introduces the four voting methods that our text covers, all in the context of the same simple example. Read the description of the method in your textbook first, and then work through the example here using that method. When you have gone through all four methods, what do you notice about the winner(s) of the election?
  
  
  • Counting the number of possible columns in a preference schedule.
  
  
  • Borda Count Example.
  
  

• Wikipedia links

  Wikipedia has a number of nice pages. It is worthwhile to read through these. Keep in mind that Wikipedia and other sources might use slightly different definitions than our text does.
  
  • Voting Systems.
  
  
  • Plurality Voting System.
  
  
  • Borda Count Voting System .
  
  
  • Instant Run-off Voting System. This is what our text calls Plurality With Elimination.
  
  
  • Copeland's Method. This is what our text calls Pairwise Comparisons.
  
  
  • Arrow's Impossibility Theorem.
  
  

• Other links

  
  
  • IRV Advocates Fire Back at Math Prof. Advocates of Instant Run-off Voting in Minnesota respond to criticism by mathematician Donald Saari who advocates Borda Count.
  
  
  • Towards a More Efficient Democratic Voting System. Scientists develop a new voting method.
  
  
  • A Tea Party Without Nuts. NYTimes Columnist Thomas Friedman on problems inherent in our voting system.