How Baseball, Poker, and Fermat Teach Us the Best Way to Elect the President
Alan Natapoff
Wed Jan 14, 04-05:30pm, 32-144
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
The Electoral College delivers large voting power in battleground states, but it creates 80 million impotent voters in poorly-contested states. Simple popular voting would make every voter, everywhere, impotent: Small numbers turned Florida and the presidency in 2000, but they could never turn a national election under simple voting. The solution is to have the winner, A, of a state receive one vote for every popular vote cast in it, for any candidate. If A is sure to win, the opposition can vote for their own candidate B (and count for an A they accept) or cast a blank ballot (that will not count for an A they despise.) This rewards candidates and presidents vote-for-vote for acquiescence by their opposition. We trace the paradoxes, the delicious oddities, and the resolution of Florida's deadlock in 2000 by Fermat's Rule.
Web: http://natapoff@mit.edu
Contact: Alan Natapoff, 37-219, 253-7757, natapoff@mit.edu
|
MIT Washington Summer Internship Program Information Sessions
Charles Stewart, Tobie Weiner
Tue Jan 27, 04-05:00pm, 4-245
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Come to an information session and find out about the MIT Washington Summer Internship Program. The program was founded in 1995 to give selected MIT undergraduates the opportunity to explore science and engineering policymaking at the national level, through study and practical experience. The interns have worked in the offices of government agencies, the private sector, and advocacy groups. Complementing the summer internships are a trip to Washington, DC, during spring break and a 12-unit HASS subject designed to give students an introduction to policymaking. All sessions are the same; come to any one.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/summerwash/www
Contact: Tobie Weiner, E53-484, x3-3649, iguanatw@mit.edu
|
|
