Mathematics of Voting

Objectives
1. To comprehend the different methods of voting.
2. To support the use of mathematics in various aspects and
endeavors in life.

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 Voting
Voting is the way of expressing or signifying one’s will or choice
in a matter, as by casting a ballot.
The most famous example of voting here in the Philippines is the
National Election for Presidency, where Rodrigo Duterte was elected as
our President in 2016.

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Methods of Voting
 Methods of Voting
1. Plurality Method
2. Plurality Method with Elimination
3. Pairwise Comparison
4. Borda-Count Method

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 Plurality Method
In plurality method, the candidate garnering the highest number of “first
place votes” wins.

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 Example
Ayie, Bie, Cey, and Dee are running for President in XYZ Company. Here
are the results after the election:
Candidates Votes
Ayie 30
Bie 69
Cey 15
Dee 51

 Bie wins.

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 Example
Ayie, Bie, Cey, and Dee are running for President in XYZ Company. Here
are the results after the election:
Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 3 3
Bie 2 3 1 4 1
Cey 3 4 3 1 2
Dee 4 1 4 2 4
Total (Number of voters for each column) 30 51 40 15 29

Ayie – 30 Cey – 15
Bie – 69 wins Dee – 51
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▷ Based on the table , Ayie gets 30 votes since she ranked first in the first
column with 30 voters.
Ayie – 30 Bie – Cey – Dee –
▷ Bie gets 69 (that is 40+29=69) votes since she ranked first in the third and
fifth column with 40 and 29 votes respectively.
Ayie – 30 Bie – 69 Cey – Dee –
▷ Cey ranked first in the fourth column, hence he has 15 votes. While Dee
gets 51 votes since he ranked first in the second column.
Ayie – 30 Bie – 69 Cey – 15 Dee – 51
▷ Therefore, Bie wins with 69 votes.
▷ Note that in plurality method, only the first place votes count, hence, the
rest of the other places votes are disregarded.
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 Plurality Method with Elimination
In this method, lowest number of “first place votes” will be eliminated
continuously until only one candidate will be left. This last candidate wins.

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 Example
Ayie, Bie, Cey, and Dee are running for President in XYZ Company. Here are the
results after the election:
Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 3 3
Bie 2 3 1 4 1
Cey 3 4 3 1 2
Dee 4 1 4 2 4
Total (Number of voters for each column) 30 51 40 15 29

Ayie – 30 Cey – 15 eliminated

Bie – 69 Dee – 51
Cey will be eliminated since he got the lowest number of first place votes. This
will left us with Ayie, Bie, and Dee as the candidates left after the first
elimination. Hence, the change in the corresponding rankings. 12
 Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 3(becomes 2) 3(becomes 2)

Bie 2 3 1 4 (becomes 1
3)
Cey 3 4 3 1 2
Dee 4(becomes 3) 1 4(becomes 3) 2(becomes 1) 4(becomes 3)

Total (Number of voters 30 51 40 15 29

for each column)

▷ The new rankings are:

Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 2 2
Bie 2 3 1 3 1
Dee 3 1 3 1 3
Total (Number of voters 30 51 40 15 29
for each column) 13
 Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 2 2
Bie 2 3 1 3 1
Dee 3 1 3 1 3
Total (Number of 30 51 40 15 29
voters for each
column)

Ayie - 30 eliminated
Bie - 69
Dee - 66

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 Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 2 2
Bie 2(becomes 1) 3(becomes 2) 1 3(becomes 2) 1
Dee 3(becomes 2) 1 3(becomes 2) 1 3(becomes 2)

Total (Number of voters 30 51 40 15 29

for each column)

▷ Hence,
Candidates Rankings
Bie 1 2 1 2 1
Dee 2 1 2 1 2
Total (Number of voters 30 51 40 15 29
for each column)
Bie – 30+40+29=99 Dee – 51+15=66
 Dee will be eliminated, therefore, Bie wins. 15
 Pairwise Comparison
In Pairwise comparison, all candidates will be paired, then between each
pair, the higher rank in each column will get the corresponding number of
votes.

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 Example
Ayie, Bie, Cey, and Dee are running for President in XYZ Company. Here are the
results after the election:
Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 3 3
Bie 2 3 1 4 1
Cey 3 4 3 1 2
Dee 4 1 4 2 4
Total (Number of voters for each column) 30 51 40 15 29

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 Borda-count Method
In this method, points are assigned to candidates based on their ranking; 1
point for last choice, 2 points for second-to-last choice, 3 points for the
third-to-last choice and so on. The point values for all ballots are summed
up, and the candidate with the largest point total is the winner.
1st 3 1st 5
2nd 2 2nd 4
3rd 1 3rd 3
4th 2
5th 1
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 Example
Ayie, Bie, Cey, and Dee are running for President in XYZ Company. Here are the
results after the election:

Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 3 3
Bie 2 3 1 4 1
Cey 3 4 3 1 2
Dee 4 1 4 2 4
Total (Number of voters for each column) 30 51 40 15 29

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 Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 3 3
Bie 2 3 1 4 1
Cey 3 4 3 1 2
Dee 4 1 4 2 4
Total (Number of voters for each column) 30 51 40 15 29

Candidates 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place 4th Place

Ayie 30 51+40 15+29 0
Bie 40+29 30 51 15
Cey 15 29 30+40 51
Dee 51 15 0 30+40+29

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 Candidates Rankings
Ayie 1 2 2 3 3
Bie 2 3 1 4 1
Cey 3 4 3 1 2
Dee 4 1 4 2 4
Total (Number of voters for each column) 30 51 40 15 29

Candidates 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place 4th Place

Ayie 30 91 44 0
Bie 69 30 51 15
Cey 15 29 70 51
Dee 51 15 0 99

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 Equivalent 4 3 2 1
Points
Candidates 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place 4th Place
Ayie 30 91 44 0
Bie 69 30 51 15
Cey 15 29 70 51
Dee 51 15 0 99

Multiply, the number of votes to their corresponding number of points. So we have,

Ayie: 30(4)+91(3)+44(2)+0(1) = 120+273+88 = 481
Bie: 69(4)+30(3)+51(2)+15(1) = 276+90+102+15 = 483 wins
Cey: 15(4)+29(3)+70(2)+51(1) = 60+87+140+51 = 338
Dee: 51(4)+15(3)+0(2)+99(1) = 204+45+0+99 = 348

 Bie gets the highest point total, hence Bie wins.

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