Class notes and other materials

Class notes

• Introduction, and the presentation assignment

• Electoral College

• Plurality vote

• Ranked choice voting methods

• Individual vs. group, some strange examples

• Voting criteria and Arrow’s Theorem

• Quantifying power

• Statistics as a political tool

• Gerrymandering

• Cryptography and privacy

  • Topology (not really political, but I like it)

• If we had more time...

Additional materials

Videos

• • Introduction to the Electoral College, and another one

  • Crazy example of the plurality vote gone wrong in the UK elections

  • Voting systems (introduction to various voting systems and the Condorcet paradox)

• Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem (includes an outline of the proof)

• Detailed example of the Banzhaf power index

• Misuses of statistics. And another video.

  • Math of gerrymandering (talk by Prof. Moon Duchin)

  • Are math and politics incompatible? (talks about a study showing that political bias impedes the ability to do math)