Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do About It)

350 Pages·2008·3.1 MB·English

by  William Poundstone

GAMING
THE
VOTE
Why Elections Aren't Fair
(and What We Can 00 About It)
WILLIAM
POUNDSTONE
HillaridWang
Adivisionof Farrar. Straus and Giroux
Naw York
HillandWang
AdivisionofFarrar, StrausandGiroux
18West 18thStreet,NewYork 10011
Copyright©2008byWilliamPoundstone
Allrightsreserved
DistributedinCanadabyDouglas& McintyreLtd.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Firstedition,2008
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Poundstone,William,
Gamingthevote.whyelectionsaren'tfair(andwhatwecandoaboutit)IbyWilliam
Poundstone.-lsted.
p. em,
Includesbibliographical references.
ISBN-]3:978-Q.-8090-4893-9(hardcover'alk.paper)
[SBN-[0,0-8090-4893-0(hardcover:alk.paper)
I. Elections-United States. 2. Voting-United States. 3. Politics, Practical
UnitedStates. 4. Gametheory. S. UnitedStates-Politicsandgovernment. L Title,
jK1976,P682008
324.9n-dc22
2007036770
DesignedbyMaggieGoodman
w\vwJsgbooks.eom
3579108642
Frontispkce;CliffordBeny",ans /9J2cartoonexposesthedarklideofwting. Despite
thesmilingfaces, presidenti,,1comendersTeddyRoosevelt,WoodrowlNilson,andWilliam
HowardTaftwellkne'FthatelectionlcanbelmfairwhentherearethreeOrmorecandidates.
(U.S.SenateCollection.CenterforLegislativeArchives)
To Scott

Contents
Prologue: The Wizard andthe Lizard 3
THE PROBLEM
I. Game Theory 25
KurtCode! • AdolfHitler· Albert Einstein· OskarMorgenstern· Bambi· the
u.s. Constitution· Joseph Goebbels • God· Kaiser Wilhelm II • John von
Neumann" Kenneth Arrow" J\'larxism • AlfredTarski • intransitivity· Harold
Hotelling· icecream· John Hicks· "Scissors, Paper. Stone" • Duncan Black·
the "forty-seven-year-old wife of a machinist liVing in Dayton. Ohio" • the
RANDCorporation· CondoleezzrlRice·OlafHelmer· HarryTruman·Joseph
Stalin· Abram Bergson
2. The Big Bang 45
Michelle Kwan • the Great Flip.Flop • Repuhlicans • Democrats •
Communists· Sidney Morgenbesser • irrelevant alternatives" /\.'tichelangelo
• Joe McCarthy • Winston Churchill • Wooclrow Wilson· Boss Tweed·
Amartya Sen
Contents
3. AShort History ofVote Splitting 59
Spoilers· the electoral college· James Polk· Henry Clay· James Birney·
cholera·ZacharyTaylor· MartinVanBuren· LewisCass •AbrahamLincoln·
Stephen Douglas • John Breckinridge • John Bell • James Blaine • moral
values • temperate Republican women • Grover Cleveland • John St. John •
Benjamin Harrison· JamesWeaver· J. P. Morgan· HenryClay Frick· Teddy
Roosevelt· WilliamHowardTaft· WoodrowWilson· EugeneDebs· socialism
• Wall Street· Ross Perot· Larry King· nude photos· George H. W, Bush·
Bill Clinton· Bob Dole· POWs • Vietnamese· Black Panthers· Ed Rollins
• FDR • Harry Levine· Ralph Nader· Hiroshima· AI Gore· Lewis Carroll •
Tweedledee • Tweedledum • GeorgeW. Bush· Michael Moore·John McCain
• KarlRove· MotherTeresa· universalnegatives·TarekMilleron •Cadillactail
Iins • George McGovern· GoreVidal· Ronald Reagan· the Iifty-Iive-mile-an
hourspeed limit· MotherJones· JamesCarville· "That Bastard" • the devil •
Pat Buchanan· Harry Browne· HarryReid· defectiveconsumerproducts
4. The MostEvil Man in America 92
Marcus Hanna· William McKinley· Yiddish· JFK • Richard Nixon· Joseph
Napolitan· LeeAtwater· cannibalism· ladies'corsets· Martin Van Buren·
thetencommandments· syphilis· slavery· mothermurder· LyndonJohnson
• farm animals·television· RushLimbaugh·ArthurFinkelstein·the$12Man
• Jesus·Jews· push-polling· electroshock· NAACP· GeorgeW. Bush·Jeb
Bush· Michael Dukakis • BabeRuth· WillieHorton·AIGore· SusanEmich
• Mario Cuomo· heroin dealers • Jennifer Fitzgerald • lithesome Republican
women· David Duke· death • apologies· peace· love· brotherhood· the
extra"chromosomecrowd· thinkingoutsidethebox
5. Run, Ralph, Run! 107
KarlRove·the"RedSpecial"· SamuelGompers • Greens·theTexas"six-pack"
•Arno PoliticalConsultants· Wal-Mart •1SM • SproulandAssociates·theLas
Vegas FBI office • the Oregon Family Council • Ayn Rand • lie detectors •
Captain America· the 'Ten Commandments Judge" • the National Guard •
HaroldSee·blackholes· threemenandahorse· BarbraStreisand• BobShrum
viii
Contents
6. Year ofthe Spoiler 120
Randy "Duke" Cunningham • Brian Bilbray • Francine Busby • Tijuana
sewage • William Griffith • mysterious phone calls • feminazi educrats •
Tim Kaine· Jerry Kilgore· Rick Santorum • weapons of mass destruction·
Bob Casey, Jr.• a Republican in a duck suit • Carl Romanelli • antimatter
• eye gouging • nonviolence • insane Democrats • Randy Graf • ~Gabby"
Giffords • Ken Mehlman· idiots· Rick Perry· Chris Bell· Carole Strayhorn
• KinkyFriedman·J. EdgarHoover· TexasChainsawMassacre 2 • trial lawyers
• Ted Kulongoski • Ron Saxton· Mary Starrett· Tweedledee, Tweedledum •
pennies from heaven
THE SOLUTION
7. Trouble inKiribati 133
Benjamin Franklin· the Marquis de Condorcet • Thomas Paine· Thomas
Jefferson • Louis XVI • Marie Antoinette • Robespierre • omelets • irony •
Jean-Charles de Borda • the metric system • BrokebackMountain· the most
repulsive bookeverwritten in the French language· the Marquis de Laplace·
"honest men" • corrupt sportswriters· arrogant pushy scientists· Catalonian
mysticism • sinners and infidels • the most perfect votingmethod· Kiribati·
James Madison· Napoleon Bonaparte
8. The New Belfry 149
CharlesDodgson· thrift· stuttering· HenryGeorge Liddell· badarchitecture
• blogging • committee voting· extraordinary injustice· uncut pages· Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland· barking up the wrongTumtum tree • unanswered
prayers· paradoxes· dodos· atrickpicture
9. InstantRunoff 162
Edward Gorey· theGood Samaritan· William RobertWare· sermons· MIT
• John Stuart Mill • the moral condition of the working classes· Alexis de
Tocqueville • proportionalrepresentation·Thomas Hare· Carl GeorgeAndrae
Contents
• lmd Salisbury· H. G, Wells· instant-runoffvoting·one-stopshopping· the
winner-turns-loserparadox
10.Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Cycle? 172
RobertTodd Lincoln· theexecutive branch'sAngel ofDeath· Pullman porters
• Adam Claylon Powell, Jr.• James Garfield· Tammany Hall· "the most
un-American, mostdiabolical systemeverdevised"· MussoJini • Duverger's law
• IlonaStaller'sleftbreast· Bimini· Dodgson'srule· DickMorris· BobDole·
NewtGingrich· Jerry Falwell· lucifer· William H. Riker· Brawnv. Boardof
Education· HarryTruman· Republicanflip-floppers • theJoseph McCarlhyof
Condorcet cycles • liberalism • Wilmot Proviso • theJournal of Theoretical
Politics· Scott L. Feld • BernardGrofman •AllanGibbard· MarkSatterthwaite
• AmartyaSen·cangames
II. Buckley and the Clones 186
Steven Brams • George Boehm· George and Ira Gershwin· negative voting·
RobertJ Weber· Nelson Rockefeller·CharlesGoodell·WilliamF. Buckley,Jr,
•JamesBuckley· RichardOttinger·clones·dummies·SpiroAgnew·Richard
Nixon· Ithaca·gametheory· approvalvoting· JohnKellett· Kenneth Matt.
RichardA. Morin· GuyOttewell • good guys· bad guys· Nobelprizes· the
Serene Republic ofVenice· popes· the Soviet Union· the United Nations·
GoodMorningAmerica· themostdangeroussystemeverinvented
12. Bad Santa 201
Donald Saari • Kris Kringle • the nobody problem • rigged elections • Peter
Fishburn· Samuel MerrillIII •JillVan Newenhizen • indeterminacy·rebuttals
and counter-rebuttals • Unsophisticated Voter System· unmitigated evil •
symmetry • polyhedra • behavioral assumptions I find to be >'ery dangerous
• Mr. Mediocre· Thomas Edison· electrocuted dogs· "'President Perot" •
AlexanderTabarrok•'"Buddy"Roemer·howtobuykitchencabinets·"'wherever
yougo,thereyouare"· polls·chameleononamirror· bandwagoneffect·Jesse
Ventura· Roger B. Myerson· John Nash· self-interest· bullet voting· Terry
Sanford· airbags· Burr'sdilemma
,