Gaming the Vote
Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do About It)
by William Poundstone · first published 2008
19mentions
7recommended by
8HN commenters
2011–2026first – last mentioned
88% recommend13% critical
Why HN recommends it
An accessible tour of voting systems and their tradeoffs, explaining why no method is flawless. It serves as a useful introduction and an entertaining read for anyone interested in electoral systems.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…instant runoff still has two-party dominance. A better system is range voting: http://www.rangevoting.org/ For a really great book on different voting systems and their advantages and disadvantages, see Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone.
on “A “perfect” voting system” ↗…voting experts researched 18 different systems, and selected Approval Voting as best. http://www.lse.ac.uk/website-archive/newsAndMedia/newsArchiv... I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the book "Gaming the Vote" by William Poundstone.
on “The U.S. Gets Less Subway for Its Money Than Its Peers” ↗You might like Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone.
on “US unprepared for an electrical grid collapse, but it costs only $300M” ↗William Poundstone's Gaming the Vote is a great read that covers this and related topics.
on “Arrow's Theorem” ↗A great popular read that covers this and similar topics is William Poundstone's Gaming the Vote. http://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Vote-Elections-Arent-About/dp/0...
on “Arrow's impossibility theorem” ↗If electoral systems interest you, I highly recommend William Poundstone's "Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do About It)". It focuses on the USA, so it's maybe better appreciated by American readers, but I found it highly entertaining and edifying, as I have several…
on “What is ranked-choice voting and why is New York using it?” ↗…for election science has a good compilation of the best articles on tactical voting. https://electionscience.org/library/tactical-voting-basics/ there's also an excellent book on the topic, called "gaming the vote". https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Vote-Elections-Arent-About/dp/...
on “Ranked-Choice Voting Is More Democratic, Not Less” ↗…yourself. https://www.rangevoting.org/BayRegDum.html here's a slightly different model from the late harvard stats phd, jameson quinn. https://electionscience.github.io/vse-sim/ don't "trust" anything. look at the data. you could also read the book "gaming the vote" by william poundstone.
on “US bans differential privacy in Census data” ↗…using it to support the status quo is like criticizing water because some people drown. His theorem says nothing about the way things should be, but rather about how things are. I mentioned Poundstone's Gaming the Vote in another post, but that book in particular discusses the implications of the theorem and analyzes better alternatives to current systems.
on “Arrow's Theorem” ↗…progress on. My hope is that we start to see some reforms at the state and local levels that can provide indication that these reforms are legitimate and are not being done to game the vote. Speaking of, "Gaming the Vote" [4] is a really good book on this subject. I think reforms like HR 3057 are well intended but I think it's too early to attempt this at the federal level. Voters in the US have very little context for…
on “Fair Representation Act (HR 3057)” ↗…plausible models of voter strategy. http://scorevoting.net/AppCW Believe me, its advocates have heard every criticism you can imagine, and the counter-argument is robust. I recommend you check out the book "Gaming the Vote".
on “Hacking Voting Machines at Defcon” ↗…approval voting. Here's a presentation I gave in 2015 to the Colorado League of Women Voters explaining more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyBm_Hcu4DI&t=488 I would also recommend the 2008 book "Gaming the Vote". Full disclosure: I'm in it.
on “Oppose the Earn IT Act” ↗…advocates for Score voting. But it's a multifaceted issue. Academics argue over different methods, and even as a casual observer it seems pretty clear that no system is flawless. For anyone who hasn't read "Gaming the Vote" by Poundstone, it's a useful introduction that discusses both the academic study and practical use of voting systems.
on “What Is Voter Satisfaction Efficiency?” ↗Read "Gaming the Vote". Also... http://ScoreVoting.net/ArrowThm.html
on “Kenneth Arrow Has Died” ↗…But they DID IT ANYWAY, because they didn't want the Republican. There is a reason that experts in game theory generally favor Approval Voting and/or Score Voting, such as outlined in the 2008 book "Gaming the Vote" by William Poundstone.
on “America’s Hidden Duopoly” ↗