An Evaluation of Major Election Methods and Selected State Election Laws
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Are Condorcet and Minimax Voting Systems the Best?1
1 Are Condorcet and Minimax Voting Systems the Best?1 Richard B. Darlington Cornell University Abstract For decades, the minimax voting system was well known to experts on voting systems, but was not widely considered to be one of the best systems. But in recent years, two important experts, Nicolaus Tideman and Andrew Myers, have both recognized minimax as one of the best systems. I agree with that. This paper presents my own reasons for preferring minimax. The paper explicitly discusses about 20 systems. Comments invited. [email protected] Copyright Richard B. Darlington May be distributed free for non-commercial purposes Keywords Voting system Condorcet Minimax 1. Many thanks to Nicolaus Tideman, Andrew Myers, Sharon Weinberg, Eduardo Marchena, my wife Betsy Darlington, and my daughter Lois Darlington, all of whom contributed many valuable suggestions. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction and summary 3 2. The variety of voting systems 4 3. Some electoral criteria violated by minimax’s competitors 6 Monotonicity 7 Strategic voting 7 Completeness 7 Simplicity 8 Ease of voting 8 Resistance to vote-splitting and spoiling 8 Straddling 8 Condorcet consistency (CC) 8 4. Dismissing eight criteria violated by minimax 9 4.1 The absolute loser, Condorcet loser, and preference inversion criteria 9 4.2 Three anti-manipulation criteria 10 4.3 SCC/IIA 11 4.4 Multiple districts 12 5. Simulation studies on voting systems 13 5.1. Why our computer simulations use spatial models of voter behavior 13 5.2 Four computer simulations 15 5.2.1 Features and purposes of the studies 15 5.2.2 Further description of the studies 16 5.2.3 Results and discussion 18 6. -
“The Return of the Brokered Convention? Democratic Party Rules and Presidential Nominations.”
“The Return of the Brokered Convention? Democratic Party Rules and Presidential Nominations.” By Rick Farmer State of the Parties 2009 October 15-16 Akron OH Front loading, proportional representation and super delegates are changing the dynamic of the Democratic presidential nomination. Since 1976 capturing the early momentum was the key ingredient to winning. Barack Obama’s nomination in 2008 demonstrates how these three forces are converging to re-write the campaign playbook. Front loading created a 2008 Super Tuesday that approached national primary day status. Proportional delegate allocations kept the race close when another system might have put the delegate count out of reach; and with a different result. Super delegates made the final decision. The 2008 Democratic presidential contests produced, in effect, a brokered convention. Without reform, many more brokered conventions appear to be in their future. Below is a discussion of how the reforms of the 1970s and 80s combine to produce this perfect storm. Then, the 2008 campaign illustrates the effects. The major reform proposals are examined. Finally some conclusions are drawn. Reforms of the 1970s and 80s American political parties grant their nomination to a single candidate at a national convention. Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party nominations can be won with a simple majority of the delegates. Delegates are pledged through a series of caucuses and primaries. Both parties are following similar calendars but Republican Party rules result in a different type of contest than Democratic Party rules. Parties have met in quadrennial national conventions for the purpose of selecting a presidential nominee since 1832. -
Medical Management of Biologic Casualties Handbook
USAMRIID’s MEDICAL MANAGEMENT OF BIOLOGICAL CASUALTIES HANDBOOK Fourth Edition February 2001 U.S. ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES ¨ FORT DETRICK FREDERICK, MARYLAND 1 Sources of information: National Response Center 1-800-424-8802 or (for chem/bio hazards & terrorist events) 1-202-267-2675 National Domestic Preparedness Office: 1-202-324-9025 (for civilian use) Domestic Preparedness Chem/Bio Help line: 1-410-436-4484 or (Edgewood Ops Center - for military use) DSN 584-4484 USAMRIID Emergency Response Line: 1-888-872-7443 CDC'S Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Center: 1-770-488-7100 John's Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense: 1-410-223-1667 (Civilian Biodefense Studies) An Adobe Acrobat Reader (pdf file) version and a Palm OS Electronic version of this Handbook can both be downloaded from the Internet at: http://www.usamriid.army.mil/education/bluebook.html 2 USAMRIID’s MEDICAL MANAGEMENT OF BIOLOGICAL CASUALTIES HANDBOOK Fourth Edition February 2001 Editors: LTC Mark Kortepeter LTC George Christopher COL Ted Cieslak CDR Randall Culpepper CDR Robert Darling MAJ Julie Pavlin LTC John Rowe COL Kelly McKee, Jr. COL Edward Eitzen, Jr. Comments and suggestions are appreciated and should be addressed to: Operational Medicine Department Attn: MCMR-UIM-O U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) Fort Detrick, Maryland 21702-5011 3 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION The Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook, which has become affectionately known as the "Blue Book," has been enormously successful - far beyond our expectations. Since the first edition in 1993, the awareness of biological weapons in the United States has increased dramatically. -
Electoral Reform in Canada: the Shape of Things to Come an Executive Summary March 2016
Electoral Reform in Canada: The Shape of Things to Come An Executive Summary March 2016 We are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first- past- the- post voting system. As part of a national engagement process, we will ensure that electoral reform measures—such as ranked ballots, proportional representation, mandatory voting, and online voting—are fully and fairly studied and considered .... Within 18 months of forming government, we will bring forward legislation to enact electoral reform. —Justin Trudeau, Real Change: A Fair and Open Government ABOUT THIS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Public Services Foundation of Canada and the National Union of Public and General Employees have prepared a comprehensive discussion paper based on a survey of the literature and polling and focus group results, which will be published at a later date. This executive summary provides an overview of the main points without the inclusion of the research, position paper, or polling results. Electoral Reform in Canada: The Shape of Things to Come Executive Summary The Canadian Debate Justin Trudeau promised during the election that this would be the last federal election to use the unfair first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. Although he has indicated that other voting systems would be considered, Trudeau has indicated that his preferred proposal is a version of the single transferable vote (STV) that uses a ranked ballot. His critics say that when STV is used in single member ridings, it is really just an alternative vote (AV) system, also known as an instant run-off system, and the result would be even more unfair in its outcome than FPTP. -
Americans and Russians Are Mostly Disinterested and Disengaged with Each Other
Americans and Russians Are Mostly Disinterested and Disengaged with Each Other Brendan Helm, Research Assistant, Public Opinion, Chicago Council on Global Affairs Arik Burakovsky, Assistant Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University Lily Wojtowicz, Research Associate, Public Opinion, Chicago Council on Global Affairs August 2019 The last few years have seen a substantial deterioration in relations between the United States and Russia. The international crisis over Ukraine, Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and US sanctions against Russia have all contributed to the growing acrimony. Recent surveys conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Levada Analytical Center reveal that large majorities of both Russians and Americans now view their countries as rivals. But in the midst of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, how do regular citizens of each country view one another? A joint project conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Levada Analytical Center, and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University shows that despite the perception of rivalry between their countries, Russians’ and Americans’ views on the people of the other country are more favorable. However, the survey results also show that Russians and Americans are not particularly curious about each other, they rarely follow news about one another, and the majority of each group has never met someone from the other. Nonetheless, self-reported interests from each side in arts and sciences suggest that there are non-political paths toward warmer relations. Key Findings • 68 percent of Americans view Russians either very or fairly positively, while 48 percent of Russians have those views of Americans. -
Presidential Nominating Process: Current Issues
Presidential Nominating Process: Current Issues -name redacted- Analyst in Elections February 27, 2012 Congressional Research Service 7-.... www.crs.gov RL34222 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Presidential Nominating Process: Current Issues Summary After a period of uncertainty over the presidential nominating calendar for 2012, the early states again settled on January dates for primaries and caucuses. Iowa held its caucuses on January 3 and New Hampshire held its primary on January 10. These two states, along with South Carolina and Nevada, are exempt from Republican national party rules that do not permit delegate selection contests prior to the first Tuesday in March, but specify that these contests may not be held before February 1. Officials in Florida announced that the state would hold a January 31, 2012, primary, in violation of party rules, which prompted South Carolina and Nevada to schedule unsanctioned events as well. South Carolina scheduled its primary on January 21; Nevada Republicans originally scheduled party caucuses for January 14, but changed the date to February 4. States that violate the rules risk losing half their delegates, as a number of states already have. Every four years, the presidential nominating process generates complaints and proposed modifications, often directed at the seemingly haphazard and fast-paced calendar of primaries and caucuses. The rapid pace of primaries and caucuses that characterized the 2000 and 2004 cycles continued in 2008, despite national party efforts to reverse front-loading. The Democratic Party approved changes to its calendar rules in July 2006, when the party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee extended an exemption to Nevada and South Carolina (Iowa and New Hampshire were previously exempted) from the designated period for holding delegate selection events; and the committee proposed sanctions for any violations. -
Electoral Reform “Regardless of Electoral System, There Will Always
Electoral Reform “Regardless of electoral system, there will always be opposing views as to advantages and disadvantages of each” Submitted by SR-F 06 September 2016 Because elections and referenda require a high level of voter awareness and responsibility, civic participation in governance must be encouraged in order that Canada’s Democracy becomes one that protects liberties, particularly communal liberties, rather than simply emphasizing individual Rights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMIbH5D0waA Direct Democracy would be the ideal voting system because it allows citizens to participate in most every aspect of governance through initiatives/voting/referenda... laws and changes to the national constitution being voted on by the citizenry affording them a much greater measure of control over political minutiae. Switzerland is the most prominent modern democracy to use elements of Direct Democracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_Switzerland with versions of it at State and local levels in the USA. As opposed to direct democracy, some version of Representative Democracy , founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people (includes Referendum/Initiatives/Recall that provide limited Direct Democracy), would appear to be more practical for Canada at this point in time. Present System : FPTP - Plurality In “winner-take-all" electoral systems, generally just two parties end up competing in national elections, forcing political discussions into a narrow two-party frame where loyalty and party line assertions can distort political debate, voters left undecided as to where to place their vote. When FPTP Voters realise that their preferred candidate cannot win, knowing that their vote won’t count or will be wasted, they have little incentive to vote. -
John Lewis' 'Good Trouble' Handbook
“THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS THE MOST POWERFUL NONVIOLENT TOOL WE HAVE IN A DEMOCRACY. I RISKED MY LIFE DEFENDING THAT RIGHT.” – Congressman John Lewis, John Lewis: Good Trouble Go to Map GOOD TROUBLE Congressman John Lewis’ life’s work has changed the very fabric of this country. Born in During the protest, John Lewis was hit on the head by a state trooper and suffered a the heart of the Jim Crow South, in the shadow of slavery, he saw the profound injustice fractured skull. On Bloody Sunday, Lewis risked his life for the right to vote and has since all around him and knew, from a young age, that he wanted to do something about it. By devoted his life to ensuring that every American has access to the ballot box. his late teens, he had joined the first Freedom Riders and later became the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of the groups responsible Unfortunately, Congressman Lewis’ work did not end with the Civil Rights era. In 2013, for organizing the 1963 March on Washington. On August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Voting Rights Act, for which he shed his blood, was effectively gutted by a Supreme the Lincoln Memorial, John Lewis gave his own rousing speech alongside some of the Court decision, Shelby County v. Holder. In the years since, voter suppression targeting greatest leaders of the civil rights movement, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. communities of color has significantly increased. But it was March 7, 1965, that etched Congressman Lewis into the American psyche. -
Electoral Systems Used Around the World
Chapter 4 Electoral Systems Used around the World Siamak F. Shahandashti Newcastle University, UK CONTENTS 4.1 Introduction ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 78 4.2 Some Solutions to Electing a Single Winner :::::::::::::::::::::::: 79 4.3 Some Solutions to Electing Multiple Winners ::::::::::::::::::::::: 82 4.4 Blending Systems Together :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 87 4.5 Other Solutions :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 88 4.6 Which Systems Are Good? ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 90 4.6.1 A Theorist’s Point of View ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 90 4.6.1.1 Majority Rules ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 90 4.6.1.2 Bad News Begins :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 91 4.6.1.3 Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem ::::::::::::::::: 93 4.6.1.4 Gibbard–Satterthwaite Impossibility Theorem ::: 94 4.6.1.5 Systems with Respect to Criteria :::::::::::::::: 95 4.6.2 A Practitioner’s Point of View ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 97 Acknowledgment ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 101 77 78 Real-World Electronic Voting: Design, Analysis and Deployment 4.1 Introduction An electoral system, or simply a voting method, defines the rules by which the choices or preferences of voters are collected, tallied, aggregated and collectively interpreted to obtain the results of an election [249, 489]. There are many electoral systems. A voter may be allowed to vote for one or multiple candidates, one or multiple predefined lists of candidates, or state their pref- erence among candidates or predefined lists of candidates. Accordingly, tallying may involve a simple count of the number of votes for each candidate or list, or a relatively more complex procedure of multiple rounds of counting and transferring ballots be- tween candidates or lists. Eventually, the outcome of the tallying and aggregation procedures is interpreted to determine which candidate wins which seat. Designing end-to-end verifiable e-voting schemes is challenging. -
Politics 101
In This Issue: Politics 101................1&3 Congress Watch ...........11 Politics 101 by Steven Steiner & Education Reform ........ 2 The Real Dope .......12 13 It was an ideal day in Buffalo Grove, perfect Hightower Event ......... 3 Drink Starbuckst....14 & 15 Republican Fantasies...4 Not Running for Congress fall weather, not too hot, not too cold. A slight Event Photo Album...5-10 .....................................16-18 breeze made for a comfortable Labor Day For information or to volunteer: Parade. Hundreds of families and friends Email us at [email protected] from the Buffalo Grove community came Or visit our website at www.tenthdems.org Or call us at 847.266.VOTE (8683) together to enjoy the yearly celebration. I Or write to Hon. Lauren Beth Gash, Chair, have always found politics interesting, and Tenth Dems, P.O. Box 523, Deerfield, IL 60015 my family has encouraged the interest. Two Editors: Barbara Altman, Susan Friedman, Democratic candidates for Congress running Allan Sperling in the 10th Congressional District participated Editorial Staff: Jack Altschuler, Joan in this parade. Will Rivlin, a friend of mine, Attenberg, Eleonora di Liscia, Hon. Lauren Beth Gash, Adrienne Kirshbaum, Ron volunteered his support to Brad Schneider, a Levitsky, Leslie Lipschultz, Karim Pakravan, businessman from Deerfield, and I volunteered Sharon Sanders, Steve Sheffey, Laurie to help Ilya Sheyman of Waukegan, formerly Kaplan Singh, Steven Steiner, Ellie Sylvan of Buffalo Grove. Even though we were Design: Tom Peltier supporting different candidates, we were, Photo Gallery: Ravi Ganapathy overall, on the same team. Although I am 15 Distribution: Glenn Stier, Dave DuBordieu, Cosette Winter years old and, therefore, ineligible to vote, The opinions expressed are those of the I am old enough to be involved in some way writers, and not necessarily endorsed by in the political system. -
RESOLVED, Political Parties Should Nominate Candidates for President in a National Primary Distribute
8 RESOLVED, political parties should nominate candidates for president in a national primary distribute PRO: Caroline J. Tolbert or CON: David P. Redlawsk From the beginning, the Constitution offered a clear answer to the question of who should elect the president: the electoral college. Or did it? Virginia delegate George Mason was not alone in thinking that after George Washington had passed from the scene,post, the electoral college would seldom produce a winner. In such a far-flung and diverse country, Mason reasoned, the electoral vote would almost invariably be fractured, leaving no candidate with the required 50 percent plus one of electoral votes. Mason estimated that “nineteen times in twenty” the president would be chosen by the House of Representatives, which the Constitution charged with making the selection from among the top five (the Twelfth Amendment, enacted in 1804, changed it tocopy, the top three) electoral vote getters in the event that no candidate had the requisite electoral vote majority. In essence, Mason thought, the electoral college would narrow the field of candidates and the House would select the president. notMason was wrong: in the fifty-seven presidential elections since 1788, the electoral college has chosen the president fifty-five times. Not since 1824, in the contest between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford, has the House chosen the president. And contrary to Do Mason’s prediction, the nomination of candidates has been performed not by the electoral college but by political parties. Copyright © 2014 by CQ Press, a division of SAGE. No part of these pages may be quoted, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the publisher Political Parties Should Nominate Candidates for President in a National Primary 137 The framers of the Constitution dreaded the prospect of parties. -
Theoretical Comparisons of Electoral Systems Roger B
European Economic Review 43 (1999) 671—697 Joseph Schumpeter Lecture Theoretical comparisons of electoral systems Roger B. Myerson Kellog Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-2009, USA Abstract Elements of an economic theory of political institutions are introduced. A variety of electoral systems are reviewed. Cox’s threshold is shown to measure incentives for diversity and specialization of candidates’ positions, when the number of serious candi- dates is given. Duverger’s law and its generalizations are discussed, to predict the number of serious candidates. Duverger’s law is interpreted as a statement about electoral barriers to entry, and this idea is linked to the question of the effectiveness of democratic competition as a deterrent to political corruption. The impact of post-electoral bargain- ing on party structure in presidential and parliamentary systems is discussed. ( 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: D72 Keywords: Electoral systems; Constitution; Election game; Incentives 1. Invitation to political economics To honor Joseph Schumpeter, I should try to begin as he might, from a long view of the history of economic theory, observing that the scope of economics has changed. With an initial goal of explaining the production and allocation of material goods, economic theorists developed analytical tools to predict how changes in market structure may affect rational behavior of producers and consumers. As the principles of rational choice were first developed in this context of price-theoretic decision-making, it seemed sensible to separate the study of markets from the study of other great institutions of society, because 0014-2921/99/$ — see front matter ( 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.