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Click here for Program
Briggs: Aftermath(ematics) of Election 2000
Abstract: This is a fairly nonmathematical talk, focusing on the 2000 election (in an nonpartisan way!); it would be good for students or teachers.
Brams: Voter Sovereignty and Election Outcomes
Abstract: Voters are sovereign to the degree that they can express their approval for any set of candidates and, by so doing, help elect or prevent the election of candidates. While voter sovereignty is maximized under approval voting (AV), AV can lead to
* a plethora of outcomes, depending on where voters draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable candidates; and
* Condorcet losers and other lesser candidates, even in equilibrium.
But we argue that voters' judgments about candidate acceptability should take precedence over standard social-choice criteria, such as electing a Condorcet or Borda winner. Among other things, we show that
* sincere outcomes under all voting systems considered are AV outcomes, but not vice versa;
* a Condorcet winner's election under AV is always a strong Nash-equilibrium outcome but not under other systems, including those that guarantee the election of Condorcet winners, if voters are sincere.
Sekhon: The Butterfly did it: Ballot Formats, Voting Technology and the Presidential Election
Abstract: A plurality of voters in the 2000 predidential election in Florida intended to vote for Gore and not Bush. Reseachers are able to show this by considering a number of issues: the butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County; the problem of voters casting ballots with missing or invalid votes and subsequent attempts to divine vote intention; and the extent to which voters intentionally cast invalid ballots. The butterfly ballot caused more than 2,000 Democratic voters to vote by mistake for Reform candidate Pat Buchanan, a number larger than George W. Bush's certified margin of victory in Florida. More that 50,000 votes that were intended to go either Bush or Gore were not counted but discarded. Finally, some by certainly not most invalid ballots are intentionally cast by voters and that the intention to cast such ballots varies across racial groups.