Math 217 - Voting Theory - Fall 2007
Last modified: November 20, 2007 2:55 PM
The items in dark red are the reading assignments (RA) for each day. The primary readings for the course are
Enlargement of the EU and Weighted Voting in its Council of Ministers by Felsenthal & Machover. LSE eprint 00000407 available at http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/VPP/Publications.htm
Fair Representation by Balinski & Young
Chaotic Elections by Saari
| Monday | Wednesday | ||
| 8/29 | Welcome to Voting Theory | ||
| 9/3 | Labor Day | 9/5 | Penrose measure and Banzhaf index RA: Felsenthal & Machover, Chap 1 |
| 9/10 | Treaty of Nice and proposed EU Constitution RA: Reread Felsenthal & Machover, Chap 1 |
9/12 | Two-tiered systems and Equitability RA: Felsenthal & Machover, Chap 2 Homework Due |
| 9/17 | Majoritarianism RA: Reread Felsenthal & Machover, Chap 2 |
9/19 | Power in the Electoral College Group Homework Due |
| 9/24 | Introduction to methods of apportionment RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 1-4 |
9/26 | The Alabama & population paradoxes Bias toward large or small states RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 5-6 Homework Due |
| 10/1 | Dean's method and Hill's method RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 8-10 |
10/3 | Evaluating the apportionment methods RA: Reread Balinski & Young, Chaps 8-10 |
| 10/8 | Fall Break | 10/10 | Apportionment and proportional representation RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 11-12 |
| 10/15 | Guest lecture by Prof. Allen RA: Handout |
10/17 | Proportional representation in South Africa RA: Handout Exam 1 Due |
| 10/22 | Elections with three candidates RA: Saari, Sects 1.2, 2.1 & 2.2 (pp 17-45) |
10/24 | The representation triangle, procedure line, and AV hull RA: Saari, Preface, Sects 2.2-2.4 (pp 40-60) Topic for Project Due |
| 10/29 | The approval voting controversy RA: Handouts |
10/31 | A fundamental decomposition of R6 RA: Saari, Sects 5.3 (pp 129-135) Homework Due Rough outline of paper due |
| 11/5 | Creating and decomposing profiles RA: Reread Saari, Sects 5.3 (pp 129-135) |
11/7 | More on creating and decomposing profiles |
| 11/12 | Extending to four candidate elections RA: Saari, Sect 2.5 & Chapter 3 (pp 60-89) |
11/14 | Dropping candidates and runoff elections RA: Reread Saari, Sect 2.5 & Chapter 3 (pp 60-89) Exam 2 Due |
| 11/19 | Inconsistency Theorems Rough draft of paper due |
11/21 | Thanksgiving Break |
| 11/26 | Overview of Multicandidate Elections | 11/28 | No class meeting Meetings with groups to discuss presentations Paper due |
| 12/3 | Student Presentations | 12/5 | Student Presentations |
Final Exam Due Tuesday, December 11, 12:00 pm
Last Modified May 7, 2009 10:14 PM