Recall that the state of Maine voted in November to switch to plurality with elimination (called ranked choice voting) for many of their elections. Here are some interesting articles about this switch and about plurality vs plurality with elimination
Maine's Ranked Choice Voting: It's not Plurality (has a couple interesting videos)
Top 5 Ways Plurality Voting Fails
Maine Ranked Choice Voting Initiative, Question 5(2016) - Ballotpedia
Portland Press Herald
Podcast Meeting with Supporters on Both sides of Question 5 (scroll down to find this)
The Reasons for Maine to Adopt Ranked Choice Voting are Unconvincing
Yes on '5': No More Lesser of Two Evils in Maine
Maine became the first state in the country . . . to pass ranked choice voting
Can you find any interesting articles about Question 5 on Maine's ballot? How would you have voted on Question 5?
It might help to draw a new preference table for every round until you get the hang of this method. So, for example, if you were to delete A after round 1, draw a new preference table with A removed. Then you can better see how everyone moves up in the next round.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly, I am confused by the voting methods. I am going to the CAS to get extra assistance in this area. I am just surprised that I am having a problem with this compared to other areas that I figured I would have had a problem with but didn't. I see you (Dr. McCune) posted a reply on how it might help to understand the plurality with elimination theory better. I am going to try that.
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ReplyDeleteYes - make sure you bring the worksheet "Voting Methods - More Problem" to class Monday.
DeleteI'm still having problems with plurality with elimination. I don't understand how to eliminate and when you Eliminate one how do you know which candidate gets the one that's eliminated votes.
ReplyDeleteWe always look at the top ranked candidate in each ballot that's still in the running in each round. So, in round 1, you're just looking at everyone's first place choices. If no one has a majority of first place votes, you eliminate the candidate with the fewest first place votes. Say A is eliminated in round 1. Then in round 2, for any ballot that had A listed in first place, their votes would go to their second place choice.
DeleteI feel so lost. I am having so much trouble understanding voting theory. I'm not sure if I'm thinking to hard about it. Are we going to have a day where we just review over voting theory for the final?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the main thing that you should know when spotting the difference between Plurality w/elimination and the Borda Count method questions? It is very confusing trying to spot the difference.
ReplyDelete-Adarius Wells
I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Any question in voting will tell you which method to use to determine the winner. So, you'll be told to use plurality with elimination or use Borda count. Remember that plurality with elimination uses the rounds while Borda count assigns points based on the number of 1st place, 2nd place, etc votes a candidate receives.
DeleteI admit, I am not the best at following news like how Maine switched to ranked choice voting, but I am really wondering why there aren't more people going nuts to try and get this switched in other places. If they are, I never heard of it before this class. But I think this is a great idea, and would be extremely helpful to determine the candidate the population truly wants. This could have saved America from our current huge orange problem. - Caleb Klingseis
ReplyDeleteI think it is starting to be discussed more, now that Maine has become the first state to use ranked choice voting. Who knows? Maybe more states will try it after they see how it goes in Maine!
DeleteSee my comment above about plurality with elimination. As far as the final, voting will be between 25% and 33% of the final.
ReplyDeleteI like this section, it's definitely more laid back. But I agree that it can be difficult to not mix and match all the different methods accidentally. All in all I think it's pretty cool because I didn't really think about voting theory beyond what happens in our presidential election, and it's interesting to find out what kinds of methods are used for specific events. Also, it's kind of crazy to see how different an election could have gone by using plurality with elimination compared to plurality, for example. And how easily it could have changed an election as important as the primaries. Generally I like any kind of lesson in math that seems to apply to my life outside of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteAlright. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that this section has a lot of real life applications and will be really useful later in life.
ReplyDeleteI find this chapter to be the most difficult. I can't seem to figure out how to complete the chart where you have to predict the outcome, or the blank box questions. Hopefully I will fully understand them by the time of the test.
ReplyDeleteI know that's it's pretty late in the game to ask this, but on the Plurality vs. Plurality w/ Elimination worksheet, how does the Absolute loser criterion work? I understand it as a candidate receiving a majority of last place votes which leads to them losing the election, but how is it possible for an individual to get last place votes and still win?
ReplyDeleteAs long as the candidate just has more first place votes than any other candidate, he can still win under plurality, despite having a majority of last place votes since the plurality method doesn't require the winner to have a majority of first place votes.
DeleteI find this chapter very interesting through the many ways our government selects our senators but I am confused on the pair wise comparison because its so similar to the Condorcet method, What is the difference? I do not Understand how a candidate could still manage to win if he loses the plurality but wins the pairwise comparison or the Condorcet method.
ReplyDeletePairwise and Condorcet's Method are the same thing. Since plurality doesn't require a candidate to have a majority of first place votes to win, it's still possible for a candidate to have more first place votes than anyone else, but still lose in a head-to-head battle with another candidate.
DeleteI completely agree with the condorcet rule and that any person that beats all other people in the race should win, and that with thing like plurality where you can win with out majority votes aren't fair especially if your only winning by a couple of votes.
ReplyDeleteI found this voting section very interesting. Now I know the various ways that winners can me chosen during elections.
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