GenEd Second Generation Training

Mathematics in the Modern World

Introduction to Voting

➢ One of the most revered privileges that those of us who live

in a democracy is the right to vote for our representatives.

➢ Sometimes, however, we are puzzled by the fact that the

best candidate did not get elected.

➢ Unfortunately, because of the way our plurality voting

system works, it is possible to elect someone or pass a
resolution that has less than majority support.
Introduction to Voting
Plurality Method of Voting:
Each voter votes for one candidate, and the candidate with the most
vote wins. The winning candidate does not have to have a majority of
the votes.

Majority vote means that more than 50% of the people voting must vote
for the issue.

Limitation of plurality method: alternative choices are not considered.

Preference schedule lists the number of people who gave a particular

ranking.
Introduction to Voting
Plurality Method of Voting:
Illustration. The Mabuhay Taxi is planning of new franchise of taxi that will
soon begin operation in the city. The board of directors for Mabuhay
taxi must purchase a fleet of new vehicles, and the vehicles must all be
the same color. Four colors are available: black, white, red, and green.
The five directors vote for their choice of color and the results are given
below. Using the plurality method of voting, which color choice wins?
Director
1 2 3 4 5
Choice Green Red Red Green Red

• Red received the most votes (3), red is declared winner.

• It should be noted also that in addition to receiving most votes, red also
received a majority of the votes (60%).
Introduction to Voting
Plurality Method of Voting
Illustration. Fifty people were asked to rank their preferences of five
varieties of chocolate candy, using 1 for their favorite and 5 for their
least favorite. This type of ranking of choice is called a preference
schedule. The results are shown below.

Rankings
Caramel 5 4 4 4 2 4
Vanilla 1 5 5 5 5 5
Almond 2 3 2 1 3 3
Toffee 4 1 1 3 4 2
Milk Choco 3 2 3 2 1 1
No. of voters 17 11 9 8 3 2

According to this table, which variety of candy would win the taste test
using the plurality voting system?
Introduction to Voting
Plurality Method of Voting
Solution. Make a table showing the number of first-place votes for each
candy.
First-place votes
Caramel 0
Vanilla 17
Almond 8
Toffee 11 + 9 = 20
Milk Choco 3+2=5

Toffee received 20 first-place votes, this type of candy win the plurality
taste test.
Introduction to Voting
Exercise. A company is planning its annual summer retreat and has asked
its employees to rank five different choices of recreation in order of
preference. The results are given in the table below.

Rankings
Picnic in a park 1 2 1 3 4
Beach party 3 1 2 4 3
Amusement park 2 5 5 1 2
Horse riding 5 4 3 5 1
Dinner cruise 4 3 4 2 5
No. of votes 10 18 6 28 16

Using plurality of voting, which activity should be planned?

Introduction to Voting
Pairwise Comparison Voting Method
- is sometimes referred to as “head-to-head” method.
- Each candidate receives 1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a tie, and 0
for a loss. The candidate with the greatest number of points wins the
election.

Illustration.
Rankings
Picnic in a park 1 2 1 3 4
Beach party 3 1 2 4 3
Amusement park 2 5 5 1 2
Horse riding 5 4 3 5 1
Dinner cruise 4 3 4 2 5
No. of votes 10 18 6 28 16
Introduction to Voting
Solution. Rankings
Picnic in a park 1 2 1 3 4
Beach party 3 1 2 4 3
Amusement park 2 5 5 1 2
Horse riding 5 4 3 5 1
Dinner cruise 4 3 4 2 5
No. of votes 10 18 6 28 16

Picnic in Beach Amuse- Horse Dinner

a park party ment park riding cruise
Picnic in a park
Beach party
Amusement park
Horse riding
Dinner cruise
Fairness of Voting Method and Arrow’s Theorem
Fairness Criteria

1. Majority criterion: The candidate who receives a majority of the first-

place votes is the winner.

2. Monotonicity criterion: If candidate A wins an election, then candidate

A will also win the election if the only change in the voters’ preferences
is that supporters of a different candidate change their votes to support
candidate A.
Fairness of Voting Method and Arrow’s Theorem
Fairness Criteria

3. Condorcet criterion: A candidate who wins all possible head-to-head

matchups should win an election when all candidates appear on the
ballot.

4. Independence of irrelevant alternatives: If a candidate wins an

election, the winner should remain the winner in any recount in which
losing candidates withdraw from the race.
Fairness of Voting Method and Arrow’s Theorem
Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem

There is no voting method involving three or more choices that satisfies

all fairness criteria.

By this theorem, none of the voting methods is fair. Not only that, a fair
voting system cannot be constructed for three or more candidates.

Kenneth Joseph Arrow

In 1948, was trying to develop material for his doctoral
dissertation. As he studied, it occurred to him that he might
be able to apply the principles of order relations to
problems in social choice. However, what he was able to
prove is that no matter what kind of voting system is devise,
it is possible to satisfy the fairness criteria.
Weighted Voting Systems
Biased Voting System
A weighted voting system is one in which some voters have more
weight on the outcome of an election.

Examples. - stockholders of a company

- the Electoral College
- the United Nations Security Council
- the European Union
Weighted Voting Systems
Biased Voting System

Illustration. Consider a small company with a total of 100 shares of stock

and three stockholders, A, B, and C. Suppose A owns 45 shares
(which means A has 45 votes), B owns 45 shares, and C own 10
shares. If a vote of 51 or greater is required to approve any measure,
then a measure cannot be passed without two of the three owners
voting for the measure. Hence, A, B, and C has the same voting
power.
Weighted Voting Systems
Biased Voting System

Illustration. Suppose that a new stockholder is brought to the company and

the shares of the company are redistributed so that A has 27 shares, B
has 26 shares, C has 25 shares, and D has 22 shares. In this case,
any two of A, B, and C can pass a measure, but D paired with any of
the other shareholders cannot pass a measure. D is virtually no power.
Weighted Voting Systems
Some definitions:

Quota is the number of votes that are required to pass a measure.

Weight of a voter is the number of votes controlled by the voter.

Notation: Weights
Quota
{ 51: 27, 26, 25, 22}
The four numbers after the colon
indicate that there are a total of four
voters in this system.
Weighted Voting Systems

A weighted voting system of n voters is written is { q: w1, w2, … , wn},

where q is the quota and w1 through wn represent the weights of each of
the n voters.

Various voting systems:

• One person, one vote: For instance, {5: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}. In this
system, each person has one vote and five votes, a majority, are
required to pass a measure.

• Dictatorship: For instance, {20: 21, 6, 5, 4, 3}. In this system, the

person with 21 votes can pass any measure. Even if the remaining
four people get together, their votes do not total the quota of 20.
Weighted Voting Systems

Various voting systems:

• Null system: For instance, {28: 6, 3, 5, 2}. If all members of this
system vote for a measure, the total number of votes is 16, which is
less than the quota. Therefore, no measure can be passed.

• Veto power system: For instance, {21: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1}. In this case, the
sum of all the votes is 21, the quota. Therefore, if any one voter does
not vote for the measure, it will fail. Each voter is said to have veto
power.

A voter has veto power whenever a measure cannot be passed without

that voter’s vote. If at least one voter in a voting system has veto
power, the system is a veto power system.
Weighted Voting Systems
More definitions:

Coalition is a set of voters each of whom votes the same way, either for or
against a resolution.

The number of possible coalitions of n voters is 2n – 1.

Winning coalition is a set of voters the sum of whose votes is greater than
or equal to the quota.
Losing coalition is a set of voters the sum of whose votes is less than the
quota.
Critical voter is a voter who leaves a winning coalition and thereby turns it
into a losing coalition.
References:
Aufmann et al (2013). Mathematical Excursions 3ed. Brooks/Cole ,Cengage
Learning.
Vistru-Yu, C. and Gozon, A. (2016). Apportionment and voting ppt. CHED’s
GE First Generation Training.
COMAP, Inc. (2013). For all practical purposes: mathematical literacy in
today’s world. New York: W.H Freeman and Company.
Johnson, D. and Mowry, T. (2012). Mathematics: a practical odyssey.
Belmont: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.