Chapter 2 -Weighted Voting Systems

Notations and definitions

• The players:
Voters in a weighted voting system. N denotes the number of players and 𝑷𝑷𝟏𝟏 , 𝑷𝑷𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝑷𝑷𝑵𝑵 the
names of the players.

• The weights:
This indicates the number of votes each player controls. and we will use 𝒘𝒘𝟏𝟏 , 𝒘𝒘𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝒘𝒘𝑵𝑵 to denote
the weights of 𝑷𝑷𝟏𝟏 , 𝑷𝑷𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝑷𝑷𝑵𝑵 respectively. We will use V to denote the total number of votes in
the system (𝐕𝐕 = 𝒘𝒘𝟏𝟏 + 𝒘𝒘𝟐𝟐 + ⋯ + 𝒘𝒘𝑵𝑵). We will assume all weights are positive integers.

• The quota :
The minimum number of votes needed to pass a motion. Letter q is used to denote the quota.

• Weighted voting system is represented using the following notation:

[𝒒𝒒: 𝒘𝒘𝟏𝟏 , 𝒘𝒘𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝒘𝒘𝑵𝑵 ]

Eg 1: Consider the following weighted voting system [8:6,4,3,2].

[8: 6,4,3,2]

Quota q is 8

There are 4 players in the system

(i.e. N=4 ) and their respective
weights are given.

w1=6 , w2=4, w3=3, w4=2

V=6+4+3+2=15

• We will assume that the quota will always fall somewhere between simple majority and unanimity
of votes. (i.e. V/2< q ≤ V)

• Dictator :

A player is a dictator if and only if the player’s weight is bigger than or equal to the quota.
Eg 2 : Consider the following weighted voting system [6:7,3,2].

𝑞𝑞 = 6, 𝑤𝑤1 = 7 ⇒ 𝑤𝑤1 > 𝑞𝑞 ⇒ 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 1 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑎𝑎 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑.

• Veto Power :
If a player has the power to obstruct by preventing any motion from passing, then that
player is said to have veto power.

Eg 3 : Consider the following weighted voting system [9:8,4,2,1]. Determine which players, if any, have
veto power.

V = 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 15 , 𝑞𝑞 = 9 , 𝑤𝑤1 = 8, 𝑤𝑤2 = 4, 𝑤𝑤3 = 2, 𝑤𝑤4 = 1

Check for P1:

V − 𝑤𝑤1 = 7 < 𝑞𝑞 ⇒ 𝑃𝑃1 ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝.

Check for P2:

V − 𝑤𝑤2 = 11 > 𝑞𝑞 ⇒ 𝑃𝑃2 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝.

Check for P3:

V − 𝑤𝑤3 = 13 > 𝑞𝑞 ⇒ 𝑃𝑃3 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝.

Check for P4:

V − 𝑤𝑤4 = 14 > 𝑞𝑞 ⇒ 𝑃𝑃4 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝.

• Coalition :
We will use the term coalitions to describe any set of players that might join forces and vote
the same way. The coalition that have enough votes to win is called a winning coalition. The
coalition that don’t have enough votes to win is called a losing coalition. The coalition consist
of all players is called a grand coalition and this coalition is always a winning coalition.

• Critical players:
In a winning coalition a player is said to be a critical player for the coalition if the coalition
must have that player’s votes to win. In other words, if we subtract a critical player’s weight
from the total weight of the coalition, the number of remaining votes drops below the
quota.
 • Critical count :
For each player we can count the number of times that player is a critical player (i.e., in how
many different winning coalitions the player is critical). This number is called the critical count
for the player.

Eg 4 : Consider the following weighted voting system [8:6,4,3,2]. Write down all winning coalitions. Find
the critical players in each winning coalition and the critical count of each player.

q = 8 ,so a winning coalition should have weight 8 or more.

Coalition Weight
{𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 } 10
{𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 } 9
{𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃4 } 8
{𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 } 7 (Losing Coalition)
{𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 } 6 (Losing Coalition)
{𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 } 5 (Losing Coalition)
{𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 } 13
{𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 } 12
{𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 } 11
{𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 } 9
{𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 } 15

Finding critical players in winning coalition {𝑷𝑷𝟏𝟏 , 𝑷𝑷𝟐𝟐 } :

Let w be weight of the coalition ,then for this coalition w =10.

Check for P1:

w − 𝑤𝑤1 = 10 − 6 = 4 < 𝑞𝑞 ⇒ 𝑃𝑃1 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑎𝑎 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝.

Check for P2:

w − 𝑤𝑤2 = 6 < 𝑞𝑞 ⇒ 𝑃𝑃2 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑎𝑎 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝.

Similarly you can check other winning coalitions for critical players.

Critical players in each winning coalition is marked in red.

Critical count for 𝑃𝑃1 = 6 , Critical count for 𝑃𝑃2 = 2 , Critical count for 𝑃𝑃3 = 2 , Critical count for 𝑃𝑃4 = 2
Computing Banzhaf Power Distributions
Step 1 : Make a list of all possible winning coalitions.

Step 2 : Within each winning coalition determine which are the critical players.

Step 3 : Find the critical counts 𝑩𝑩𝟏𝟏 , 𝑩𝑩𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝑩𝑩𝑵𝑵 .

Step 4 : Find 𝐓𝐓 = 𝑩𝑩𝟏𝟏 + 𝑩𝑩𝟐𝟐 + ⋯ + 𝑩𝑩𝑵𝑵 .

𝑩𝑩𝟏𝟏 𝑩𝑩𝟐𝟐 𝑩𝑩𝑵𝑵
Step 5 : Compute the Banzhaf power indexes: 𝜷𝜷𝟏𝟏 = 𝑻𝑻
, 𝜷𝜷𝟐𝟐 = 𝑻𝑻
… , 𝜷𝜷𝑵𝑵 = 𝑻𝑻
.

Eg 5 : Find the Banzhaf power distribution for the weighted voting system given in Eg 4.

In Eg 4 we already completed the first 3 steps.

𝐵𝐵1 = 6, 𝐵𝐵2 = 2, 𝐵𝐵3 = 2, 𝐵𝐵4 = 2

T = 6 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 12
𝐵𝐵1 6 1 𝐵𝐵2 2 1 𝐵𝐵3 2 1 𝐵𝐵4 2 1
𝛽𝛽1 = = = , 𝛽𝛽2 = = = , 𝛽𝛽3 = = = , 𝛽𝛽4 = = =
𝑇𝑇 12 2 𝑇𝑇 12 6 𝑇𝑇 12 6 𝑇𝑇 12 6

Notation and definitions

• Sequential coalition :
An ordered list of the players. We write sequential coalitions in the form < 𝑷𝑷𝟏𝟏 , 𝑷𝑷𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝑷𝑷𝑵𝑵 >
with N players has N! sequential coalitions.

• Pivotal player :
When looking at a sequential coalition start counting votes from left to right. At some point
(maybe not until the end) there are enough votes to win. The first player that makes this
possible is the pivotal player in that coalition. Every sequential coalition has one and only one
pivotal player.

• Pivotal count:
For each player we count how many times the player is a pivotal player as we run over all
possible sequential coalitions. This gives the pivotal count for that player. We use the notation
𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝟏𝟏 , 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑵𝑵 to denote the pivotal counts of 𝑷𝑷𝟏𝟏 , 𝑷𝑷𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝑷𝑷𝑵𝑵 respectively.
Computing Shapley - Shubik Power Distributions
Step 1 : Make a list of the N! sequential coalitions with the N players.

Step 2 : In each sequential coalition determine the pivotal player.

Step 3 : Find the pivotal counts 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝟏𝟏 , 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝟐𝟐 , … , 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑵𝑵 .

𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝟏𝟏 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝟐𝟐 𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑺𝑵𝑵
Step 4 : Compute the SSPIs : 𝝈𝝈𝟏𝟏 = 𝑵𝑵!
, 𝝈𝝈𝟐𝟐 = 𝑵𝑵!
… , 𝝈𝝈𝑵𝑵 = 𝑵𝑵!
.

Eg 6 : Find the Shapley - Shubik power distribution for the weighted voting system [6: 4,3,2,1].

q= 6 , V= 10, N=4

We need weight of 6 or more to pass the motion. There are 4!=24 sequential coalitions.
Coalition 1st player weight 1st two players weight 1st three players Total weight of
weight coalition
〈𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 〉 4 4+3=7
〈𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃3 〉 4 4+3=7
〈𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 〉 4 4+2=6
〈𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃2 〉 4 4+2=6
〈𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 〉 4 4+1=5 4+1+3=8
〈𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃2 〉 4 4+1=5 4+1+2=7
〈𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 〉 3 3+4=7
〈𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃3 〉 3 3+4=7
〈𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃4 〉 3 3+2=5 3+2+4=9
〈𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃1 〉 3 3+2=5 3+2+1=6
〈𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 〉 3 3+1=4 3+1+4=8
〈𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃1 〉 3 3+1=4 3+1+2=6
〈𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 〉 2 2+4=6
〈𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃2 〉 2 2+4=6
〈𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃4 〉 2 2+3=5 2+3+4=9
〈𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃1 〉 2 2+3=5 2+3+1=6
〈𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 〉 2 2+1=3 2+1+4=7
〈𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃1 〉 2 2+1=3 2+1+3=6
〈𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 〉 1 1+4=5 1+4+3=8
〈𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃2 〉 1 1+4=5 1+4+2=7
〈𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃3 〉 1 1+3=4 1+3+4=8
〈𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃1 〉 1 1+3=4 1+3+2=6
〈𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃1 , 𝑃𝑃2 〉 1 1+2=3 1+2+4=7
〈𝑃𝑃4 , 𝑃𝑃3 , 𝑃𝑃2 , 𝑃𝑃1 〉 1 1+2=3 1+2+3=6

Pivotal player in each coalition is marked in red.

𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆1 = 10, 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆2 = 6, 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆3 = 6, 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆4 = 2

𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆1 10 2 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆2 6 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆3 6 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆4 2 1
𝜎𝜎1 = = = 41 %, 𝜎𝜎2 = = = 25%, 𝜎𝜎3 = = = 25%, 𝜎𝜎4 = = =8 %
𝑁𝑁! 24 3 𝑁𝑁! 24 𝑁𝑁! 24 𝑁𝑁! 24 3