Prepared by:
Joseph Malkeviitch
Department of Mathematics
York College (CUNY)
Jamaica, New York 11451
email:
malkevitch@york.cuny.edu
web page:
http://york.cuny.edu/~malk
Fifty-five voters have produced the following collection of ballots on 5 choices:
Questions:
1. Who should be declared the winner?
2. What method did you use in deciding who the winner should be?
3. If a ranking is to be made, rather than selecting a single winner, how would you rank the 5 choices?
4. Are you still happy with the plurality method of conducting elections after studying this example?
5. If different reasonable methods of conducting elections lead to different winners what lesson does this have for democracies?
6. What method would your recommend for primary elections for US President and for (perhaps a different method) electing the President?