HackerWho wins when the same voters are counted differently?
Start with one fictional voter’s second choice, then follow districts, seats and national totals. At each stage mark which information survives and which questions the result can still answer.
Questions in this reading · 5
Who gets onto the tally before a majority is counted?
In the fictional three-seat district, ranking candidates changes what happens to a ballot after its first choice. The City of London example moves one step earlier: which residents or workers can receive a ballot? Keeping a counting formula fixed while changing eligibility changes what the result represents. Trace a ballot to a seat, then ask who could enter that calculation at all.
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Citizens rank theirIf no winner, last place is eliminatedThe companies then give their votes to select employeeswith the remaining 1/4th from residentsWhose cooperation does the winner still need?
A counting rule can assign office without identifying who can turn an order about roads or taxes into action. Alongside the winner, Grey asks us to draw the people whose cooperation is needed and the resources that sustain it. This separates two observations: obtaining office and implementing a decision. If the officeholder stays but the necessary collaborators change, which commitments can still be carried out?
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The individuals needed to make the necessary things happenControl the treasure.Does a second choice survive the ballot?
In Grey’s animal kingdom seven candidates split the vote, and Leopard only has to outpoll each rival individually. Adding the losing votes tells us most voters did not put Leopard first. It cannot reveal a rival those voters would support together. A ranked ballot lets Squirrel put Turtle first and Owl second. That later preference is additional information the old totals cannot supply. Both clips use the same author’s fictional setting, making it easier to hold the electorate constant.
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80% -- wanted someone else as kingTurtle as his first choice, Owl as his secondTransferring a vote and drawing its district
In an instant runoff, a ballot for an eliminated candidate can transfer to the next remaining choice. Now keep the ballots and regroup the very same people into two districts. Grey’s other example shows that seat winners can change while individual choices stay fixed. Run each experiment on a separate sheet: alter the tally rule or the grouping, with the other held fixed.
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whoever decides where the lines are drawn has enormous influenceleast popular candidate is eliminated after each roundWhy can ten thousand more votes buy no additional seat?
The UK example places votes in constituencies, each electing one MP. More votes in an already safe seat add no seat. Grey constructs another extreme under the US electoral college: narrow wins in certain states can coexist with huge losses elsewhere without cancellation on a national net-vote basis. Both demonstrations are Grey’s, comparing two aggregation rules. Trace each grouping on the way from ballot to winner before interpreting a national percentage.
Passages and timestamps · 4
they're a bunch of local elections.each of which elects one member of parliamentwin the votes of the people who count the mostbecause it's a winner take all systemTry it on your own example
Draw six voters and give each a first and second choice. Tally first choices across the group, then award one seat in each of two districts. What changed, and which question would require information beyond the winner list?