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Attended college thanks to the generous state support of education in 1960's America. Earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Illinois followed by post doctoral research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Taught for several years at Lehigh University prior to a short stint at Bell Laboratories but followed by a much longer career at NEC punctuated by ten U.S. and international patents in the general area to semiconductor applications.
Now living in a comfortable Maine retirement community and focused on the prospect of upgrading democracy by means of an improved voting system.
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, April 12, 2023 Perverse Delivery Charges
"Delivery" seems to take on a variety of meanings, but we are often charged for it. This article examines what this entails, but particularly for electric power. Series: Electricity Delivery Charges (4 Articles, 10636 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Who Pays Taxes?
This article provides a number of graphs to illustrate how income and income taxes are distributed in the U.S. More emphasis is given to the data than to any attempt to interpret that data.
(11 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 29, 2014 What Might be the Best Voting System?
In this third article of a series we introduce Balanced Approval Voting and argue that it is not only a better system of voting but one that we should seriously consider using. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, June 21, 2008 Liberate Yourself from the Mainstream Media
This article is intended as a tutorial on web radio and its potential for spreading the word about progressive ideals and objectives
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, February 17, 2008 Conservatives Without Conscience
Are the neocons destined to return to the Democratic party and to attempt a take-over there? It could happen.
A book by John Dean is intended as a study of the conservative movement, but it also provides good food for thought about where the country has been and where it might be headed.
(8 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 1, 2017 Rethinking Which Voting System is Best
Probably no voting system really is best for all situations. Sometimes simplicity is more important than other considerations but sometimes more complexity is in order.
This article takes the position that the number of candidates is a prime consideration in this regard. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(10 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 15, 2019 Older Ranked-Choice Voting Systems
The popularity of IRV as an alternative to plurality voting is perplexing. Historically there are many other ranked-choice voting systems that seem, if for no other reason than complexity, preferable to IRV.
This article explores those older systems, suggesting reasons for IRV's popularity. Some insight is gained but without really settling that question. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 20, 2020 Making Choices
Deciding which voting system to use in elections is a topic of increasing interest. In an earlier article of this series, two criteria are suggested for making such a selection and this article argues for a third criterion. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(8 comments) SHARE Monday, November 27, 2017 Can Less be Better?
Often we use shortcuts to quickly come to a conclusion. Unfortunately, these shortcuts sometimes lead to a wrong conclusion and we never go back to examine the reasoning more closely.
In this article we examine a couple instances of this and we show through examples how this shortcut-thinking has been misleading. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 8, 2023 Condorcet and the Spoiler Effect
This article follows up on a misstatement in the previous article and explores some implications. In particular, it makes some comparisons between several different voting systems and approches to comparing their merits. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(17 comments) SHARE Monday, November 13, 2017 What's Wrong with Approval Voting
This article tries to clear up some of the confusion about claims that Approval Voting is a balanced system. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, June 4, 2023 Balanced Condorcet Voting
Can Condorcet voting be balanced? There is a way, but it seems confusing and probably not worth applying in real elections.
But observations about ranked voting and about Condorcet voting are also found in the article Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 30, 2020 How Would Balanced Voting Help?
This article is intended to give the reader a quick introduction to balanced voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 14, 2008 Who Pays Taxes II
This is a follow-up to an earlier article, Who Pays Taxes?
It presents charts to illustrate both income and total taxes paid according to income level.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, November 21, 2022 Reflections on Voters
Most considerations of voting systems focus, understandably, on voting systems. Here we take a different perspective on the topic and ask what the voting system says about voters. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 7, 2017 Ranked Voting
"Ranked Voting" and Instant-Runoff Voting ("IRV") are often used incorrectly as synonyms, but IRV is actually only one of many possible systems of ranked voting. This article points up a curious facet of IRV and it offers a similar system that corrects that curious feature. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 9, 2020 How Electability Frustrates Democracy
Three important features of a good voting system are that it should be logically complete, it should be balanced, and it should be evaluative. In this article we explain the importance to democracy of the last of these features. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Monday, July 8, 2019 Two Properties for Categorizing Voting Systems
Two properties that may or may not hold for a given voting system are discussed. Being balanced is one of these properties and being logically complete is another. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, March 17, 2023 Star Voting on Fabric
Star voting has attracted some attention recently. A short video on the subject led me to think about this system and this article sketches a few thoughts about it. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(8 comments) SHARE Friday, October 19, 2018 Opposites
Some confusion still exists concerning what voting methods are or are not balanced. This article explores one area of reasoning that is a common source of error. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(25 comments) SHARE Friday, August 5, 2022 Does Balance Suffice?
A Balanced Evaluative system will end the two-party duopoly. But might balance alone be sufficient? Or maybe just being evaluative? Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(13 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 7, 2018 One Man, One Vote
How much weight should we give to
this old saying? This article argues for not putting much weight at all to it. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(7 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 15, 2016 Parties -- What Are They Good For?
Using balanced voting methods in our general elections is likely to bring about an end to the two-party duopoly. But these voting methods would also be beneficial in primaries.
Primaries may well be the place to start experimenting with better voting methods. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(11 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 13, 2018 A First Experience with Ranked Voting
This article differs from preceding articles in these series in that it is mostly just a report of my own experiences with a voting system that is not widely used. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, November 5, 2023 Spoiled Again
The major selling point for ranked-choice voting has always been that it avoids the spoiler effect. This is shown by example.
Here we show a different example of a ranked-choice election in which the spoiler effect does happen. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(7 comments) SHARE Friday, September 30, 2016 Who Will Win this Election?
This article provides a quick review of the many different voting systems that have been discussed earlier, in other articles of this series. It considers each system in turn to suggest how an election would or might turn out. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 22, 2014 Are More Political Parties Possible Here?
Is there some way for this country to ever have more that two parties in serious competition with each other? This article argues that we need only change the way we vote to get such an improvement in our politics. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, July 27, 2020 BAV Now Appears in Wikipedia
This article is a review of an entry that recently appeared in Wikipeda. While accurate, the article is terse at times and this article in Op Ed News is intended to clarify some of the points in the Wikipedia article. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(16 comments) SHARE Friday, March 23, 2018 Yet Another Balanced Voting Method
Elections are really polls of the population. Should we think of them in that light? This article explores that question. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 2, 2021 Shooting Down Ranked Voting Systems
Arrow's theorem tells us that no ranked voting system can sensibly be supported for use in elections. And there are an uncountably infinite number of ranked voting systems so it will be impossible to show what is wrong with each one. Still, we can show how some of the seemingly promising ones fails. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Friday, January 27, 2023 The Level Election Playing Field
Leveling the playing field is needed. But it should not be seen as a scary prospect. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Counting Votes to Make Voting Count
This article suggests some ways that vote-counting in our elections can be made more secure. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(20 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 14, 2018 What is the Matter with Balanced Voting?
What might prevent balanced voting from being adopted? This article examines a few potential problem areas. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 30, 2020 What About STAR Voting?
STAR voting has recently been getting a lot of attention, particularly in Oregon. It is a system built on Score Voting by adding an instant runoff stage at the end of counting ballots.
This article provides some observations about this voting system, along with a more detailed look at Range (Score) voting and a few words about Approval Voting and Balanced Approval Voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 25, 2020 Approval Voting Fails to be Balanced
This is a survey of past articles in this series that deal with the question of whether approval voting is balanced. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(8 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 6, 2020 Does the Constitution need Amending?
The last few years have forced us to question the functioning of our government. Solutions to some problems appear to require tinkering with our Constitution, but others do not. This article presents some examples of each.
(5 comments) SHARE Monday, December 10, 2018 A Voter's Quandry
A voter is faced with making choices and the right path is not always clear. Should a voting system not strive to avoid making the choices difficult? Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 1, 2022 Obstruction of Voter Expression
At its root, the spoiler effect is caused by choosing a voting system that overly obstructs voters from adequately expressing their preferences.
This problem is well known in the case of plurality voting but it also is a concern for ranked-choice voting (IRV) and for Approval Voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(14 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 15, 2016 Are Political Parties Consistent with Democracy?
Here at the end of a primary season, many feel that insider meddling and election fraud have colored the results and that the consequences may be grim.
Both major political parties are considering reforms. But this has happened before, but solutions seems illusive.
Perhaps it is not the political parties, but the very notion of a political party that needs to change. We explore one vision for such a reform. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 16, 2018 Arrow's Theorem and Overstatements
Several articles in this series on balanced voting have focused attention on Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV). These articles have been scattered in time and could be challenging to track down without some help.
A major purpose of this article is to provide a brief survey of these articles for someone who might be primarily interested in IRV. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(17 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 27, 2023 Comparing BAV with Ranked Choice Voting
Compared to BAV, ranked-choice voting asks much more of voters. And it puts much more effort into evaluating the responses, so it is not unreasonable to ponder whether all that extra effort is justified. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, June 2, 2014 What's Wrong With Instant Runoff Voting?
This is the fourth of a series of articles on the concept of balanced voting. This article introduces IRV as a preamble to the fifth article which will describe a balanced improvement to the traditional IRV. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(10 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 21, 2015 Neither Positive nor Negative but Balanced Voting
Our voting system has evolved naturally over time but it clearly delivers less than it should or could.
This article is the latest in a series on Balanced Voting and it addresses what seems to be a confusion in some quarters.
Specifically, it makes the point that Balanced Voting is not a voting system. Rather, "balanced" is a very desirable characteristic of a voting system. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 20, 2023 Electrical Delivery: The Poor and the Elderly Will Pick Up the Tab
The second article in this series shows that because of the way electric bills are now computed, the natural evolution will be for rising prices paid mostly by the poor and the elderly. This argues for a change in how the bills are computed. Series: Electricity Delivery Charges (4 Articles, 10636 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, August 28, 2020 What Changes with Balanced Approval Voting?
Following up on an earlier article that showed how BAV would undermine the two-party duopoly, this article explores what might happen afterward. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 20, 2020 The Electoral College
One of the strongest reasons for adopting a balanced voting system is that doing so will undermine the two-party duopoly. Unfortunately, for presidential elections, the traditional plurality voting system in the Electoral College seems to present a barrier to this particular benefit.
In this article we show that this should not be seen as an insurmountable difficulty. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 6, 2017 Instant Runoff - Balanced once Again
The voting system described in the previous article, IRRV, was not a balanced system. Here we convert IRRV into a balanced system as a way of illustrating that kind of conversion. And we note that the result is, in essence, IRBV. So IRBV is the balanced version of both IRV and of IRRV. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 3, 2014 Instant Runoff Balanced Voting (IRBV)
As promised in the previous article of this series, IRV is modified so as to be balanced and thereby offer minor party candidates a better opportunity. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Sunday, September 3, 2023 How Did Trump Ever Win?
Trump owes his nomination in 2016 to plurality voting.
This is not news to anyone who has followed this series of articles, but it is a message that is worth repeating. The real purpose of this article is to gather into one short article the important reasons for favoring balanced approval voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(9 comments) SHARE Saturday, September 17, 2022 The Distraction of Score Voting
In discussing Balanced Approval Voting, there may not be need to discuss the paradigm of Score Voting at all. Nonetheless, it is a topic that people keep raising.
This article explains that connection and lays out a common error in the common understanding of score voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(16 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 15, 2022 Just a Little Off-balance
This article takes another look at the notion of Approval Voting being claimed as balanced. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Sunday, June 18, 2017 Voter Emotions Matter
Discussions about voting often become overly technical, accidentally treating voters as machines that will perform in predictable ways. Here we argue by example that this can be very misleading. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(33 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 16, 2023 Escaping Duopoly
Republicans are Red
Democrats are Blue
Must we be stuck
With only those two?
Can we escape the two-party duopoly? Probably we can, but indications are that neither IRV nor approval voting is the right path. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 7, 2016 Who Will Win this Election? Part II
This is a continuation of an earlier article that surveys the consequences, for a particular election, of using each of eight different voting systems. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(6 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 3, 2018 Voting Systems in Action
An election scenario is played out in several ways with four different voting systems being used. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 24, 2022 Latvia Wisely Chose to Adopt BAV
Latvia uses BAV in its elections and this article provides some commentary about the results of one such election. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(12 comments) SHARE Friday, August 6, 2021 Notation for Voting Systems
The great similarity of both the terminology and notation shared by approval voting and balanced approval voting is explored in this article. The article also points out a sometimes troubling assumption behind some common notations for scoring voting systems that can easily be unnoticed.
. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(6 comments) SHARE Friday, April 26, 2019 Establishment and Exercise
Most amendments to our Constitution come through changes in the interpretation of its words by the federal courts. The meanings of the words, so assigned, often drift away from their common usage. This article suggests such a change through a change to the interpretation of the word "religion".
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, August 29, 2023 Why Bother to Meter Electric Power?
Qui Bono?
Who profits from charging end customers for electric power usage? It is the producers of power who produce that electric power by burning fossil fuels. So why peruse policies that perpetuate this approach? Series: Electricity Delivery Charges (4 Articles, 10636 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Saturday, July 31, 2021 Retrospective on Balanced Voting
Three qualities needed for a good voting system have been identified in this series and this article reviews those important properties. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 5, 2022 The Two-party Duopoly Sure, but What Else is Wrong?
Why worry about the voting system when there are so many problems with our elections? This article explores the impact of BAV adoption on what is commonly considered the more serious problems with our elections. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(6 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 14, 2021 Voting Systems Without Bias
The term "balanced" is explored and an alternative term is suggested. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 22, 2014 What's Wrong with First-Choice Voting?
This is the second article in a series on voting. This article takes a critical look at our traditional way of voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(15 comments) SHARE Monday, September 17, 2012 Let's Have More Political Parties
Is another electoral system possible? In the U.S. might it be possible to adopt an electoral system that insists on more than two polarized parties? This article suggests that the answer is yes.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 25, 2023 Coping with Big Wealth
Trying to tax away concentrations of great wealth is politically difficult and historically it does not seem to work. Here, we suggest a possible alternative.
(17 comments) SHARE Thursday, January 7, 2021 Is Democracy Worth Saving?
In earlier articles we have assumed, without much explanation, that more political parties would improve democracy and that would be a good thing. Not everyone accepts this premise, however. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
SHARE Sunday, January 15, 2023 Suicide is an Indicator of What?
Why do we no longer hear about the high rate of suicide in Sweden? That used to demonstrate how inferior socialism must be to capitalism. But what does it say now?
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 19, 2023 Good Strategic Voting
IRV is such a complex voting system it might seem that strategic voting simply could not happen. But this article shows that it could become a concern. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(6 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 14, 2022 Balanced Approval Limitations
In recent articles we have tried to show BAV to improve on approval voting, probably the best of the widely promoted alternative voting systems. In this article we ask, but not entirely answer, whether we might improve on BAV. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(11 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 25, 2014 A Parliament in Washington?
The twelfth Amendment to our Constitution requires that the Electoral College must choose presidents by a majority vote. While a truly deliberative body might be expected to reach a majority decision, our present-day Electoral College no longer deliberates. This poses interesting implications for a true multiple-party democracy in the U.S. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 23, 2016 Balanced Ration Voting
The virtues of balanced voting are reviewed, leading up to the introduction of a new balanced voting system that, like range voting and IRV, allow a voter to distinguish between favored candidates (and between disfavored ones).
Unique to this system is that it takes into consideration that voters cannot typically be very familiar with an unlimited number of candidates. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(25 comments) SHARE Monday, January 9, 2023 Star-like Voting
These are just some thoughts about Condorcet voting, particularly in connection to balanced approval voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(8 comments) SHARE Friday, January 14, 2011 Incendiary Speech
As hesitant as we should all be to restrict our freedom of speech, there are times it has been done in the past. It is argued here that today it is again appropriate to place a further restriction on this important First Amendment right.
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 27, 2016 Who Can Compete in Our Elections?
In the previous two articles in this series, we looked at a single election to see how the election would likely turn out. In this article we continue that exercise with a different makeup of candidates and voter attitudes.
A purpose of this exercise is to contrast the behavior of traditional voting systems with balanced systems. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, July 5, 2021 The Perfect Voting System
Strategic voting can occur using any voting system and people can be pretty inventive about it. In this article we take a look as how strategic voting might affect balanced-approval voting and we see that though it will happen, the damage will not be severe.
. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 9, 2021 Voters Need to Understand How Votes are Counted
The number 0 is special in that adding in a tally does not change the tally; it is the appropriate number for representing abstention where a voter wants to avoid doing anything. This choice of 0 is not essential, but it does help voters to understand and appreciate even small details about how votes are tallied. Examples of why this is important are provided in this article. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 13, 2021 What is Wrong with our Primaries?
We tend to think of primaries as just another election. But presidential primaries have some special characteristics that make them worthy of special attention. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, March 23, 2022 The National Popular Vote
Presidential elections present some special problems for adopting a different voting system. NPV only makes matters worse in this regard. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(8 comments) SHARE Monday, July 12, 2010 Centralized Power is Always a Danger
Conservatives always focus on the dangers of government power while liberals tend to focus on corporate power. Both present a danger.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, August 25, 2022 Could a Stealth Candidate Endanger a Balanced Approval Election?
Any voting system is likely to come under attack by people or organizations seeking a favorable outcome from their own perspective. This article discusses how this might happen to Balanced Approval Voting and efforts that might be considered to make this kind of attack unsuccessful. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, October 24, 2022 Words Perpetuating the Two-Party System
Something that we lose when there are more than two candidates in an election is a way to express opposition to one of the candidates. This important aspect of how voters feel is given no means of expression, either with ranked-choice voting or with approval voting. That is a serious flaw in these voting systems. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(13 comments) SHARE Friday, February 4, 2022 'Tis a Gift to be Simple: One Man, One Vote
Balanced Voting can be as simple as Balanced Plurality Voting and even that system is surely an improvement over plurality voting. Still, it leaves room for improvement and this article draws a comparison between BAV and BPV. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(7 comments) SHARE Friday, November 5, 2021 Proportional Voting and BAV
Proportional voting and balanced-approval voting have similar benefits, but proportional voting fits better with parliamentary systems. That is a big advantage BAV has for the U.S.
. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 23, 2021 Just Think about Runoff Voting
IRV, sometimes referred to as simply "ranked voting" has gained considerable popularity. In this article we attend to some details about this voting system that perhaps have not been so widely noticed. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 5, 2022 The Second Interstate Vote Initiative
When a new and better voting system is adopted, it will surely be one state at a time. But this is particularly difficult for presidential elections. Does this mean that for presidential elections we will be forever forced to use plurality voting? Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 11, 2021 Partisanship
Would more political parties improve our politics? People do argue both sides of this question.
Trump's impeachment trials provide some food for thought on this question. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
SHARE Wednesday, April 20, 2022 Contending with the NPV Dilemma
Generally we can find some way, if not to solve a problem, then at least accommodate to it. This should be the case with the dilemma of defining what we mean by the national popular vote even when different states adopt distinct voting systems.
This article proposes a possible such an accommodation. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 17, 2020 What Could Go Wrong With Balanced Plurality Voting?
Evaluative voting systems are preferred for many reasons but one good reason is to avoid the spoiler effect. This is the message of this article, which also shows by example how the spoiler effect can take an unfamiliar form. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, August 21, 2012 Should Nader have Won the 2000 Election in Florida?
As often as a voter likes one candidate another voter may dislike one of the candidates for an office. So why are voters never asked about their dislikes and what would elections look like if we did?
(7 comments) SHARE Sunday, January 2, 2022 How Biased is IRV?
Several earlier articles in this series have examined problems with instant-runoff voting, but generally the issues have been with the complexity of the system or how the vote tally might fail in some way.
This article looks at IRV from the standpoint of flaws in how it collects the opinions of voters. Series: Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views), Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
SHARE Sunday, April 25, 2021 Partisanship and Trade Unions
Is the media and BLM missing an important ingredient in the behavior of police? This article simply asks this question.
SHARE Friday, March 11, 2022 Against the Partisan Divide
A podcast about polarization is recommended and the topic developed as it relates to mouse traps and to voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(8 comments) SHARE Friday, February 5, 2021 Should Balanced Approval Voting be Simplified?
In earlier articles of this series, the first criticism I offered against instant runoff voting was that it was too complex. Although there are other problems with IRV and more generally with ranked voting systems, it is a problem.
BAV is much simpler to explain and to use as a voter. And BAV is much easier than IRV for those who tally votes. Still, it is worth re-visiting this issue of complexity, asking now about BAV. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, October 14, 2020 Can Vote Suppression be Suppressed?
A promising voting system that applies a statistical approach is seen to suffer from a tendency to discourage voting. Modifying election procedures to help diminish this tendency leads to a way to make vote suppression ineffective. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Tuesday, June 17, 2014 Instant Runoff or Approval?
Among the voting methods that have been proposed to reform our two-party system are two that stand out - Approval Voting and Instant Runoff Voting. In this series we have proposed improvements to both of these systems and in this article we discuss how it might be possible to choose between them. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Maine's Moderate Republican Senators
The two moderate Republicans that Maine has sent to the Senate have played a critical role in the health-care reform efforts. This article examines the effects of their positions on health reform.
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, November 6, 2008 Now What? More Piracy?
The slightly larger number of Democratic Senators in the next Congress will not eliminate the threat of filibuster that has so crippled the current Congress.
This article suggests some changes to Senate rules that could help with this problem
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, October 11, 2021 Can We End the Two-Party System?
Most articles in this series focus on one or two voting methods and this can be viewed as getting too much into the weeds.
This article serves as a reminder that the ultimate objective is to improve our democracy by putting an end to the two-party duopoly.
. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 5, 2008 A Funny Story?
A story making the rounds of right-wing conversation reveals some interesting assumptions.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, February 19, 2016 Range Voting
Range voting is described in two different ways to show it offers little real advantage over approval voting.
The great advantage of balanced voting remains, however, and that is illustrated in what may be found an amusing example. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, May 5, 2008 Must Lapel Pins Remain Only the Refuge of Scoundrels
The flap about Obama not wearing a flag lapel pin is part of a more general attack that conservatives have long made on liberals. A way to fight back is proposed for discussion.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 15, 2010 Skin in the Game
Why are corporate executives so free to take risks for our environment, for our economy and for innocent bystanders without taking any personal risk? What can be done about changing this?
This article is an invitation to discuss these issues.
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, July 5, 2009 Why I Am Not a Liberal
Conservatives have taken much from us in the last thirty years. One important item is the very meaning of the word "liberal". We should take it back.
(21 comments) SHARE Thursday, November 30, 2023 Do IRV Voters Just Need Training?
Revised to fix tables: A second example is presented of an IRV election being subjected to the spoiler effect. This second example does not depend on the odd handling of abstentions in IRV elections. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 6, 2024 Can We Reform our Polarized Two-Party Politics?
There are many reasons to favor balanced approval voting, and high on the list is that it would give voters more candidates to choose from. This purpose here is to consolidate the most important advantages of this voting system within a single article. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE Thursday, December 28, 2023 Bottom-up Electoral Reform
This article is really a plea for help with spreading the word about BAV. There are a few people who support this method of voting but that number is now quite small compared to the number who are completely unaware of it.
So long as that is true, it will not even be a candidate for adoption. Changing that will not be easy, but the article proposes a strategy. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
SHARE Tuesday, January 2, 2024 Top-down Bias in Podcasting
Technological changes can cause cultural problems that require us to adapt. It may be impossible to return to what worked in the past and so new solutions may be needed.
Polarization and the consequent limitations on civil discussions may in part be a consequence of social media. It seems impossible for us to eliminate social media but here we suggest another way to bring back civil discussions of important issues.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, March 11, 2024 Families of Voting Systems
Just because two voting systems use the same ballots does not mean they are the same. How the votes are counted and how the winner is determined are equally important. This article describes such variations of balanced approval voting. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(9 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 8, 2014 A $2 Bill
One of the curious old habits we cling to is the denominations of our coins. It may not be the most important facet of how we resist change but surely it says something about how we cling to the past.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, February 25, 2024 Illusions of Ending the Two-Party Duopoly
If ending the two-party duopoly is what we want to accomplish then the options for a new voting system seem quite limited. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views), Ranked Voting (35 Articles, 43597 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 11, 2008 Sinister Forces
Most of us think of elections as an opportunity to choose the best candidate for an office. In normal times this may be a good approach, but these are anything but normal times.
Today we must look at elections as an opportunity to keep sinister forces out of government.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 9, 2008 Illegal? So What?
What good is a law if it cannot or will not be enforced?
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 4, 2010 Relics of a Buddhist Temple II
What has the Supreme Court done to us? This article explores some implications of the Citizen's United decision.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, December 15, 2023 Less Democracy Should Not Be an Option
A podcast discusses the wisdom of returning to smoke-filled rooms (well, maybe no cigars) to decide on nominations for our leaders. Here we argue that there are better alternatives. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE Sunday, March 9, 2008 Delegates Count
Statistical anomalies in the New Hampshire primary led some to question the integrity of the vote count there. There are other anomalies to consider when comparing caucus results with primary results.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 29, 2010 Protecting our environment
Future oil spills need not be as severe a catastrophe as the Deepwater Horizon spill is apt to be. Here is a proposal of an approach to this problem.
(2 comments) SHARE Sunday, July 13, 2008 Face Value or Saving Face
Should we take at face value John McCain's claim that he was tortured in Viet Nam. Certainly if this is held up as an important qualification for his becoming President then it should be considered more carefully.
(6 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 10, 2024 Is BAV Compatible with the Electoral College?
The Electoral College now seems an anachronism, but it is enshrined in the Constitution and seems very hard to eliminate. This article suggests a couple of ways to improve matters without resorting to eliminating it. Series: Balanced Voting (97 Articles, 120811 views)
SHARE Monday, January 28, 2008 Relics of a Buddhist Temple
Globalization and unprecedented borrowing by the United States has turned many formerly American companies to have questionable citizenship.
This article questions whether representatives of companies with foreign ownership should be allowed to make political contributions in the United States.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, May 14, 2008 The Strongest Democratic Candidate
The MSM has often focused on the fraction of Clinton voters who might fail to vote for Obama when he becomes the Democratic candidate. Here we focus on whether Clinton voters might vote Republican even if Clinton became the candidate.