Part I:

Research the Iowa Caucuses and explain how they work. Your response
should be a one page (250word) narrative. Be sure to include a brief history, how a caucus
differs from a typical primary election, and why the Iowa Caucuses play such an
important role in American presidential elections

Part 1:
The way Iowa Caucuses work is they gather rather than going somewhere to vote. By this they
get together with their friends and or neighbors to do their voting. Usually these occurs in ballots or polls
but these people get together in places like schools, churches, or even homes. The Iowa Caucuses tend
occurs on February 3 at 8 pm. Even though this seems a little more informal in truth it is still
quite formal. If people want to participate they have to register just like normal. They register
for the desired group, Republican or Democrat, and there is even same day voting and registration.
This isn’t just some random thing that random people do either. This is something that many
people go to and participate in. This year alone they expected the turn out to be 240000 which
is the most since 2008. There are 41 pledged delegates that are available to the democrats.
The democratic party in Iowa also holds a number of satellite caucuses which is 24 out of state,
60 in state and 3 international. The way that these really work are different for Democrats than
Republicans. Democrats move around their sites. They also must get 15% of support from
attendees to be a viable candidate. If someone isn’t eligible, the supporters of that person must
choose someone else or form a viable preference group. For the Republicans they select
their choice via a secret ballot. They also don’t move around their sites the way the Democrats
do. There is also no mathematical formula to determine the winner.

Word count: 262

Resource:
​https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/what-iowa-caucus-process-how-does-iowa-caucus-work-n1127886

Part II:
Imagine you live in Mason City, Iowa and attend a Republican caucus for Precinct W1
P2 at the Highland Golf Course. The meeting organizers ask the voters to
select their preferences for four candidates. The following preference schedule summarizes the results of the poll.

# VOTERS 19 6 36 39

1st B R C T

2nd R B R R

3rd C C B C

4th T T T B
B is Jeb Bush, C is Ted Cruz, R is Marco Rubio, and T is Donald Trump
 Use this preference schedule to answer the following questions about various
voting methods. Vocabulary words in bold are defined in the Voting Theory section in
Math in Society

I. How many people voted? 100

Ii. Who wins by Plurality Method? T (TRUMP

Part II:(Continued)

Iii. Suppose we use Instant Runoff Voting. Remove the candidate with the least 1st Choice
votes and show the preference schedule.

# VOTER 19 6 36 39

1ST B B C T

2ND C C B C

3RD T T T B

Iv. Remove the candidate with the least 1st Choice votes and show the preference schedule.

# VOTERS 19 6 36 39

1ST C C C T

2ND T T T C

WHO WINS BY INSTANT RUNOFF? C (TED CRUZ.)

CALCULATE BORDA COUNT FOR EACH. B= 205 C= 272

R= 287 T= 217

WHO WINS BORDA COUNT? R ( MARCO RUBIO.)

How many points does each candidate get using Copeland's Method?
B=2 R=3
C= 1 T=0
WHO WINS COPELAND'S METHOD? R (MARCO RUBIO.)

Is there a Condorcet Candidate? YES.

WHO? R (MARCO RUBIO.)

Part III:
Imagine that the members of your group are selected as the delegates from Precinct W1
P2 and you must agree on one candidate to support at the CerroGordo County Convention.
Write a one page (250 word) discussion explaining who won the election. The discussion should
Include your interpretation of your calculations in Part II and which fairness criteria helped you choose
a winner. There is no right answer (see Arrow's Impossibility Theorem). As a group it is your job to make a
decision and defend that decision in your discussion.

I discussed this with one of my friends after looking over all of the information and we think Marco Rubio
should be the winner. The reason I believe this, and she agrees, is because he won the most
of the voting theory methods. I know many people would only choose one of these methods to
look at when choosing a winner but I think it is important to look at every aspect. I think that
everyone should look at all of these methods when choosing a winner because every single one is
going to give a different answer. That is why I believe it is important to complete all of these because
if there is someone who gets repeated more than once when it comes to winning these theories I think
that makes it an obvious winner. There is no reason why he wouldn’t deserve to win after winning
three of these theories. I know some may believe that one theory is more right or more important
than the other ones but I truly don't believe one is better than another. Also it is important to look
at all of the facts before you make any decision, not just in math. It is important to look at every angle
of a situation and make sure it is the right choice. Plus when going through these theories like I
stated earlier, every single theory can come up with a different answer. So I don’t get how someone
could choose Ted Cruz or Trump when they know that Marco Rubio won three other of the
theories.