Voting Theory
"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." - Sir Winston Churchill In our increasingly interactive world, elections and other forms of collaborative group decision-making are becoming ever more important. Many voting systems have been proposed, and there is increasing awareness of how the mathematical properties of voting systems affect not just the election outcome but also which options are really considered and the content of pre-election debate. An understanding of the tradeoffs of various approaches appears critical for democratically governed groups of all sizes to realize their full potential.
Papers and Essays: Moderated Differential Pairwise Tallying: A Voter Specified Hybrid of Ranking by Pairwise Comparisons and Cardinal Utility Sums, J. W. Durham and P. Lindener, Voting Matters, Issue 27, September 2009. (alternate link) The MaxRep Choice Function: Voter-Priority-Based Resolution of Cyclical Majorities, J. W. Durham and P. Lindener, 2009.
Links: James Green-Armytage's website: A collection of tutorials and essays on a range of topics related to voting and election systems. His introduction to voting theory and social choice is a great place to begin learning about the methods and math behind elections. Condorcet.org: Blake Cretney has put together a collection of material about the Marquis de Condorcet and the methods which derive from his theories on voting. Condorcet Internet Voting Service: Andrew Myers' group at Cornell runs a flexible election service which can compute solutions using a variety of methods. The website also has nice descriptions and discussion of various methods.