Would you like to know how many people have visited this page? Or how reputable the author is? Simply
sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.
 SHARE 
|
|
Attended college thanks to the generous state support of education in 1960's America. Earned a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Illinois followed by post doctoral research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Taught for several years at Lehigh University prior to a short stint at Bell Laboratories but followed by a much longer career at NEC punctuated by ten U.S. and international patents in the general area to semiconductor applications. Now living in a comfortable Maine retirement community and focused on the prospect of upgrading democracy by means of an improved voting system.
OpEd News Member for 979 week(s) and 4 day(s)
143 Articles, 30 Quick Links, 1493 Comments, 12 Diaries, 3 Series, 8 Polls
Articles Listed By Date
List By Popularity
List By Popularity
Page 1 of 8 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 View All
(5 comments) SHARE
Monday, March 3, 2025
Two-Candidate Elections Some examples of elections reveal that BAV has advantages even for elections with only two candidates.
Series: Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views), Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Monday, March 3, 2025Two-Candidate Elections Some examples of elections reveal that BAV has advantages even for elections with only two candidates.
Series: Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views), Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
SHARE
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Striving for Better Voting While BAV is a great voting system, there are apt to be some who are not convinced. It is hard to know what their objections are, but this article is an attempt to respond to one that seems likely. It introduces a new voting system, BAV+, not because it will improve elections, but because it might find a wider audience of support.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Sunday, January 19, 2025Striving for Better Voting While BAV is a great voting system, there are apt to be some who are not convinced. It is hard to know what their objections are, but this article is an attempt to respond to one that seems likely. It introduces a new voting system, BAV+, not because it will improve elections, but because it might find a wider audience of support.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
SHARE
Friday, January 3, 2025
Who Decides? There is more to conducting a good election than choosing the right voting system. There are security precautions of course, but it is also necessary to keep the number of candidates to some reasonable limit. This article addresses this issue while comparing approval voting with balanced approval voting.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Friday, January 3, 2025Who Decides? There is more to conducting a good election than choosing the right voting system. There are security precautions of course, but it is also necessary to keep the number of candidates to some reasonable limit. This article addresses this issue while comparing approval voting with balanced approval voting.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(1 comments) SHARE
Sunday, December 8, 2024
What is so Special about Balanced Approval Voting? This article is intended as a summary of the virtues of BAV. Nearly all of the information here can be found somewhere in one or another earlier article, so what is new is merely how it is organized in one place.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Sunday, December 8, 2024What is so Special about Balanced Approval Voting? This article is intended as a summary of the virtues of BAV. Nearly all of the information here can be found somewhere in one or another earlier article, so what is new is merely how it is organized in one place.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(3 comments) SHARE
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Balanced: Plurality or Approval? This article re-visits a balanced voting system and compares it to BAV. In the process, the roles of being balanced and evaluative are revealed more clearly. The article can also be taken as a review of the most important features of BAV.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Sunday, November 17, 2024Balanced: Plurality or Approval? This article re-visits a balanced voting system and compares it to BAV. In the process, the roles of being balanced and evaluative are revealed more clearly. The article can also be taken as a review of the most important features of BAV.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(12 comments) SHARE
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
BAV: What Could Go Wrong? Tie elections are always a possibility and experience supports the belief that they will only very rarely occur. But mostly our experience is with plurality elections. With some new voting system, that might not continue to be the case. This article suggests how this unlikely problem could be managed sensibly for at least some voting systems, including BAV.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Tuesday, October 15, 2024BAV: What Could Go Wrong? Tie elections are always a possibility and experience supports the belief that they will only very rarely occur. But mostly our experience is with plurality elections. With some new voting system, that might not continue to be the case. This article suggests how this unlikely problem could be managed sensibly for at least some voting systems, including BAV.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(9 comments) SHARE
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Another Ranked-Choice Spoiler (Corrected version) This article corrects an error in the previous version. It illustrates the spoiler effect occurrence in a ranked-choice election with only three candidates.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
Tuesday, October 1, 2024Another Ranked-Choice Spoiler (Corrected version) This article corrects an error in the previous version. It illustrates the spoiler effect occurrence in a ranked-choice election with only three candidates.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
(3 comments) SHARE
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Another Ranked-Choice Spoiler As the title suggests, this article presents an example election that fails due to the spoiler effect. In this case there are only three candidates.
Thursday, September 26, 2024Another Ranked-Choice Spoiler As the title suggests, this article presents an example election that fails due to the spoiler effect. In this case there are only three candidates.
(9 comments) SHARE
Monday, August 19, 2024
Handicaps in Score Elections Score voting systems can be praised for allowing expression of both approval and disapproval regarding each candidate. But few score voting systems provide equal opportunities for these choices; some favor famous candidates and others favor the less famous ones. Some allow different levels of power for opposition than for support. Examples are explored in the article.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Monday, August 19, 2024Handicaps in Score Elections Score voting systems can be praised for allowing expression of both approval and disapproval regarding each candidate. But few score voting systems provide equal opportunities for these choices; some favor famous candidates and others favor the less famous ones. Some allow different levels of power for opposition than for support. Examples are explored in the article.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(9 comments) SHARE
Friday, August 2, 2024
Similarities Between Star Voting and Balanced Approval Voting Star voting has had some popularity in recent years, apparently because of its good performance in some simulations. Both star voting and BAV are closely related to score voting, but beyond that they have many differences. This article examines those differences and this provides a platform for reviewing the important features of BAV that make it such an attractive voting system.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Friday, August 2, 2024Similarities Between Star Voting and Balanced Approval Voting Star voting has had some popularity in recent years, apparently because of its good performance in some simulations. Both star voting and BAV are closely related to score voting, but beyond that they have many differences. This article examines those differences and this provides a platform for reviewing the important features of BAV that make it such an attractive voting system.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(8 comments) SHARE
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Runoff in a Star Election This article considers runoff elections in a general way, but particularly focusing on star voting, which is seen to be affected, in an unusual way, by the spoiler effect.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
Sunday, June 30, 2024Runoff in a Star Election This article considers runoff elections in a general way, but particularly focusing on star voting, which is seen to be affected, in an unusual way, by the spoiler effect.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
SHARE
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Why Have Laws Against Murder? The article is intended as food for thought. We explore the possibility that the preamble to our Constitution provides us with good guidance about why some laws should be regarded as illegitimate. Various laws are considered as examples, including dietary laws, murder, theft, fraud and abortion.
Wednesday, May 8, 2024Why Have Laws Against Murder? The article is intended as food for thought. We explore the possibility that the preamble to our Constitution provides us with good guidance about why some laws should be regarded as illegitimate. Various laws are considered as examples, including dietary laws, murder, theft, fraud and abortion.
(3 comments) SHARE
Monday, April 1, 2024
Should Legislatures Use Balanced Approval Voting? (Hint: They already do) Earlier articles in this series have focused on general election or sometimes primaries. This one looks at how to apply an improved voting system to improve the legislative process, either in Congress or in a state or local legislature.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Monday, April 1, 2024Should Legislatures Use Balanced Approval Voting? (Hint: They already do) Earlier articles in this series have focused on general election or sometimes primaries. This one looks at how to apply an improved voting system to improve the legislative process, either in Congress or in a state or local legislature.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(1 comments) SHARE
Monday, March 11, 2024
Families of Voting Systems Just because two voting systems use the same ballots does not mean they are the same. How the votes are counted and how the winner is determined are equally important. This article describes such variations of balanced approval voting.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
Monday, March 11, 2024Families of Voting Systems Just because two voting systems use the same ballots does not mean they are the same. How the votes are counted and how the winner is determined are equally important. This article describes such variations of balanced approval voting.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
(2 comments) SHARE
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Illusions of Ending the Two-Party Duopoly If ending the two-party duopoly is what we want to accomplish then the options for a new voting system seem quite limited.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
Sunday, February 25, 2024Illusions of Ending the Two-Party Duopoly If ending the two-party duopoly is what we want to accomplish then the options for a new voting system seem quite limited.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views), Ranked Voting (38 Articles, 52811 views)
(5 comments) SHARE
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Can We Reform our Polarized Two-Party Politics? There are many reasons to favor balanced approval voting, and high on the list is that it would give voters more candidates to choose from. This purpose here is to consolidate the most important advantages of this voting system within a single article.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Tuesday, February 6, 2024Can We Reform our Polarized Two-Party Politics? There are many reasons to favor balanced approval voting, and high on the list is that it would give voters more candidates to choose from. This purpose here is to consolidate the most important advantages of this voting system within a single article.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(6 comments) SHARE
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Is BAV Compatible with the Electoral College? The Electoral College now seems an anachronism, but it is enshrined in the Constitution and seems very hard to eliminate. This article suggests a couple of ways to improve matters without resorting to eliminating it.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Wednesday, January 10, 2024Is BAV Compatible with the Electoral College? The Electoral College now seems an anachronism, but it is enshrined in the Constitution and seems very hard to eliminate. This article suggests a couple of ways to improve matters without resorting to eliminating it.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
SHARE
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Top-down Bias in Podcasting Technological changes can cause cultural problems that require us to adapt. It may be impossible to return to what worked in the past and so new solutions may be needed. Polarization and the consequent limitations on civil discussions may in part be a consequence of social media. It seems impossible for us to eliminate social media but here we suggest another way to bring back civil discussions of important issues.
Tuesday, January 2, 2024Top-down Bias in Podcasting Technological changes can cause cultural problems that require us to adapt. It may be impossible to return to what worked in the past and so new solutions may be needed. Polarization and the consequent limitations on civil discussions may in part be a consequence of social media. It seems impossible for us to eliminate social media but here we suggest another way to bring back civil discussions of important issues.
(3 comments) SHARE
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Bottom-up Electoral Reform This article is really a plea for help with spreading the word about BAV. There are a few people who support this method of voting but that number is now quite small compared to the number who are completely unaware of it. So long as that is true, it will not even be a candidate for adoption. Changing that will not be easy, but the article proposes a strategy.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Thursday, December 28, 2023Bottom-up Electoral Reform This article is really a plea for help with spreading the word about BAV. There are a few people who support this method of voting but that number is now quite small compared to the number who are completely unaware of it. So long as that is true, it will not even be a candidate for adoption. Changing that will not be easy, but the article proposes a strategy.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
(2 comments) SHARE
Friday, December 15, 2023
Less Democracy Should Not Be an Option A podcast discusses the wisdom of returning to smoke-filled rooms (well, maybe no cigars) to decide on nominations for our leaders. Here we argue that there are better alternatives.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
Friday, December 15, 2023Less Democracy Should Not Be an Option A podcast discusses the wisdom of returning to smoke-filled rooms (well, maybe no cigars) to decide on nominations for our leaders. Here we argue that there are better alternatives.
Series: Balanced Voting (108 Articles, 146972 views)
