Talk:Eventmath/Lesson plans/Proportions and voting power under the Electoral College

Proposal: Essay prompt on limitations of the provided measures

Problem

Since Wyoming is a winner-take-all state that has leaned Republican in recent years, it is likely that all of Wyoming’s electoral votes in a modern election will go toward the Republican candidate. So, a Wyomingite who wants to put a Democrat in office has little power to do so. The same may be said of a Republican in a heavily Democratic state. In the research article cited in the lesson plan, Banzhaf concedes that even his proposed measure does not account for “the political impotence of a Republican in a solidly Democratic state.” Neither measure discussed in this lesson plan accounts for this issue, or others like it (Banzhaf identifies several such issues).

Solution

This problem is actually an opportunity! Discussing the limitations of a particular measure may help students to understand that numbers are not beyond dispute, in that they may not capture what we are trying to measure. Yet, quantitative measures do provide us with a basis for discussion. Perhaps students could be prompted to explore this tension under “Assignments,” along the following lines.

Proposed implementation

Essay prompt: In the article “One Man, 3.312 Votes: A Mathematical Analysis of the Electoral College,” by John F. Banzhaf III, the author states that “the theoretical voting power of an individual may not coincide with his actual ability to affect the outcome of any particular election.” Does this statement apply to the measure below? Describe any limitations of this measure, and discuss the extent to which these limitations affect its overall utility.

$${\text{individual voter power}}={\dfrac {\text{number of EC votes}}{\text{number of residents}}}$$

--Greg at Higher Math Help (discuss • contribs) 04:58, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

Great idea! I just added this essay prompt to the Assignments section, and I even made a comment about this concept in the Instructor notes section. Professorbrendan (discuss • contribs) 16:28, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

Even better! An explanation under "Instructor notes" makes it easier for the instructor to understand the purpose of the prompt, and it alerts the instructor to an important issue, in case they don't read every idea in the assignments section. Also, I noticed that you improved the prompt in a few ways. I made a few more revisions in addition to those. I'm happy to discuss those changes in more detail, if needed. Go team! --Greg at Higher Math Help (discuss • contribs) 03:53, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

References