88 =v Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, students should be able to: 1. use different voting methods to determine the winner among candidates or options. 2. identify which among the voting methods satisfy some fairness ve The Voting Systems What is voting? Voting is a tool used by groups of People in making a collective decision. It can presented conveniently in terms of an election system where one can selgct one particular candidate out of a set of mba on the basis of ballots cast by voters Majority System, Majorit stem jgpthe most common in election with only means that more than (es. souks total V@fers favor a certain candidate rriteria. a meio process consisting of two ica 100 voters, the candidate with v 5° higher wins the election. lity of Voting In the plurality system with a preference list, the candidate having the most number of first-place votes is declared the winner, The winning candidate may not have the majority of the votes and alternative choices are not considered. Mathematics in the Modern WorldExample 1 the results of an election with 4 candidate y 8 and 50 voters ai a the preference list below. Using the re shown i Plurality of voting which candi > id wins this election? ate 2 4 2 B 3 2 1 3 4 c 2 1 4 1 3 D 4 No. of Votes 1 % wy %& ™ Solution al 6 Gettin otal c place votes, we obtain the following table. We can see that candidate C has the most number of first place votes. Thus, he wins in this election according to the plurality method. However, candidate C did not get the majority of the votes ( at least 26 votes). Chapter 4: Apportionment 8990 Borda Count Method In this method, each candidate is assigned a weight according to their rank in the preference list. For number of candidates, the highest rank (the most favorite) will have points and the lowest rank (the least favorite will have 1 point. The Borda count is the sum of these weights given ¢, a candidate. The candidate who receives the highest Borda count will be declared the winner. Example 2 Using Borda count method, determine the winner in the preference ligt in Example 1 Solution Totaling the weights over 50 ballots, we age Borda counts for the following candidates. Borda Count = pararravnerentisiansieieren WY RANK 7/7 Rank Point’ No. of Votes Total 3 2 12 24 a3 2 8 16 I 4 16 64 3 2 10 20 4 1 4 4 ais _ Borda Count = 128 Mathematics in the Modern WorldRANK Rank Point No, of Votes ‘Tol > 3 12 36 gd 4 8 2 4 | 16 16 1 4 0 40 3 2 4 8 Borda Count = 132 ot Lees RANK Rank Point No. of lB) Total 5 1 12 2 3 es @ 2: 5 32 5 30 5 16 The can e. roves Borda count is candidate C. Thus, candidate eps fhe election. Plurality With Elimination Plurality with elimination is a variation of the plurality method in which the alternative choices of the voters are taken into consideration The candidate with the fewest number of first-place votes is first eliminated. In case there are two alternatives that have the same lowest votes then both are to be eliminated. The remaining candidates are re- ranked with the assumption that voters’ preferences do not change from round to round. Chapter 4: Apportionment 1Example 3 Answer Example | using the method! of plurality with elimina in, B 3 1 i C 1 4 i 4 dD 4 2 3 2 No. of Votes 12 8 16 10 4 Solution 4 For round 1, candidate D should be eliminated, Q 8+10=18 Candidates A and B have the same lowest first-place votes then be should be eliminated. ‘Thus, the winner for this method is candidate C. 92 Mathematics in the Modern WorldThe Top-Two Runoff Method The two candidates with the most number of first pl removed from the preference list and then are re-ranked for fiat The one with the higher first-pla lace votes re anew preference : votes in the new preference list petween these two candidates will be declared the winner. ‘The top-two runoft method satisfies the majority criterion. Example 4 Apply the top-two runoff method to the preference list from ample I. Solution Counting the total first place votes for each cai le, we obtain the following table. YF 2 &S’ No.of Votes oy? & 16 10 The top pad Sian the most number of first place votes are candies a C. Thus, we remove candidates A and D from the list This gives us*the following preference list. ~ Thus, candidate B wins this election. Note that in the Plurality method, candidate C wins the election. Chapter 4: Apportionment 9394 The Fairness Criteria Which voting method is fair? What do we mean by thir? Phe fot Moy are four different ways to define fairness in voting options: Winy 1. Majority Fairness Criterion A voting method is said to satisfy the majority fairness criter io the winning candidate receives a majority of the first-place voteg. 2. Monotonicity Criterion Basically, it requires that the winning candidate must not lose by being ranked higher by a voter or the losing candidate must not win being ranked lower. Suppose A is the winner o riginal election If one or more voters who voted for other cand were to change their choice to A, then A should still be the wing of the new election 3. Condorcet Criterion © If a candidate wins over othep cafifidates in all head-to-heag matchups using the majority rule ahs late must also be the winner when all candidates oO the : 4, Independence of irelevantays ag (A) ‘A winning candidat ¥ Boag nsis the winner in any recount even if the losing c tog raw from the election. Arrow's me T Inall gy is imposstble to develop a voting system that satisfies all of the four faiyffess criteria. Hence, none of the voting methods discussed in this section can be considered fair if we talk about Arrow’s theorem. Performance Summary of the Voting Methods The following table summarizes the performance of each voting method. The input “yes” means that the method satisfies the said fairness criteria. Mathematics in the Modern WorldMajority Monotonicity yes no yes no Condoreet no no no no HA no no no no Exercises 5.2 The Voting Systems ‘A group of 50 senior high school students @ asked to rank their most favorite sports to play. Determine tht ning option using the Plurality of voting. Is there a majority ign? If so, which option? 1. _ Basketball 2 2 Volleyball 3 4 Badminton. 1 3 Swimming 4 1 10 5 Chapter 4: Apportionment 952. Answer Problem | using Borda Count method. Solution: gS 3. Answer Problem 1 using plurality with, emir method. Solution: <& @ OS 4. Answer Problem I using the top two run-off method. Solution: 96 ‘Mathematics in the Modern WorldIfthere are 360 voters in an election using Plurality a. What is the number of majority votes? ———— fp. What is the minimum number of votes for the winner with 5 candidates? ete ar If there are 400 voters and 6 candidates in an election using Borda count, What is the total number of points on a ballot? a b. What is the least number of points a c te can receive? ¢. What is the maximum rumbaepoinge cia can receive? logging candidates, which candidate 4 If points are given, fol wins the election Oe beg Gates [> [a a Pee PF | tao | Solution: Chapter 4: Apportionment 97