Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do About It) by William Poundstone |
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Frustrated voters can now take action to reduce the big gap between what voters want and politicians do. This book explains how VoteFair ranking can eliminate a hidden unfairness in U.S. elections. The unfairness is hidden in primary elections where the winner is always from the correct party, but is often disliked by a majority of the voters. Traditional single-mark ballots don't provide information about secondary preferences, so the frequent lack of majority support for the winner of a primary election typically goes unnoticed.
Frustrated voters can now take action to reduce the big gap between what voters want and politicians do. This book explains how VoteFair ranking can eliminate a hidden unfairness in U.S. elections. The unfairness is hidden in primary elections where the winner is always from the correct party, but is often disliked by a majority of the voters. Traditional single-mark ballots don't provide information about secondary preferences, so the frequent lack of majority support for the winner of a primary election typically goes unnoticed.
VoteFair ranking makes use of order-of-preference ballots that allow each voter to indicate not only a first choice, but also a second choice, third choice, and so on. VoteFair ranking counts these ballots in a way that not only correctly identifies which candidate is most popular, but also indicates which candidate is second-most popular, which candidate is third-most popular, and so on.
An existing voting method called instant runoff voting also uses ballots that collect secondary preferences, but voting experts acknowledge that sometimes instant runoff voting identifies the wrong winner. The book's author, Richard Fobes, says "VoteFair ranking takes into account all the preferences of all the voters, which makes the results fairer than instant runoff voting, which only considers some of the secondary preferences of some of the voters."
Ending The Hidden Unfairness In U.S. Elections contains 85 illustrations of candidates, ballots, voters, and voter preferences that clearly show the unfairness of current voting methods and the fairness of VoteFair ranking. The book also contains eight cartoons and a poem.
At the front of the book are suggestions for how to read only portions of the book. The suggestions include reading the introductory chapter that summarizes the book's most important points, just reading the two chapters that explain order-of-preference ballots and VoteFair ranking, just reading the chapters that explain how U.S. Presidential elections can be improved, or just reading the closing chapter that takes a peek into the future to reveal the increased economic prosperity that will flourish under fairer voting methods.
The longer you wait to tell others about this book and VoteFair ranking, the longer we must put up with special-interest puppets instead of voter-chosen leaders.
About the Author
Richard Fobes (Fobes rhymes with robes) learned the skills of creative problem solving outside of classrooms, beginning in childhood. He has taught Creative Problem Solving Skills workshops and seminars. While writing The Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox he tested his creative-problem-solving skills on political problems, realized that existing voting methods are too primitive for fair results, and invented VoteFair ranking. He has worked as a writer, software developer, electronics technician, and dance instructor. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics.
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Inside This Book
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United States, House of Representatives, Prime Minister, Electoral College, Vice President, Ralph Nader, Congressional Representative, Supreme Court, Ending The Hidden Unfairness, King George, Thomas Jefferson, Senator First Second Third Fourth, Twelfth Amendment, Social Democratic, Democratic Senator, North Dakota, Aaron Burr, Cambridge Massachusetts, New York, Capital of Cow Country, National Republican, New Zealand, The Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox, American Idol, Andrew Jackson New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
United States, House of Representatives, Prime Minister, Electoral College, Vice President, Ralph Nader, Congressional Representative, Supreme Court, Ending The Hidden Unfairness, King George, Thomas Jefferson, Senator First Second Third Fourth, Twelfth Amendment, Social Democratic, Democratic Senator, North Dakota, Aaron Burr, Cambridge Massachusetts, New York, Capital of Cow Country, National Republican, New Zealand, The Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox, American Idol, Andrew Jackson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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This book cites 6
books:
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- Speaking Freely: Washington Insiders Talk About Money in Politics by Larry Makinson in Back Matter
- Benjamin Franklin by Paul More on page 63
- Rules of Order by Roberts on page 274
- The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog by Howard Rheingold in Front Matter
- Helping Young Children Flourish by Aletha Jauch Solter in Front Matter
See all 6 books this book cites
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