Mathematics of Political Science

Over the years I had heard of a number of ways of conducting elections and counting the votes, including Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), Condorcet, Range Voting and others. I really had no idea what this was all about except that there is an organization called the Center for Voting and Democracy which for years has advocated IRV and been successful at getting this method used in several cities throughout the United States.

Yesterday I had a conversation with someone who has a great deal of interest in the mathematics of political representation and apportionment. After speaking with this person and thinking about the topic it seemed reasonable that there probably was a lot more to it than I had previously believed. Indeed there is and there is some material on the web discussing a lot of complicated mathematical formulas for "counting the votes" all of which have a profound effect on the type of government we have and how much democracy we experience.

One of the reason I've started this blog and hope to promote it is that I believe that the political process in the United States has become out of reach of "We the People." I'm beginning to think that "We the People" were never really meant to be included, but it sure sounds nice as a platitude.

I am over the next few days going to try to find some scholarly, peer-reviewed articles discussing some of the complex mathematical theories pertaining to the subjects of apportionment and representation in the political sphere. I will list those articles on this blog, with proper MLA style citations so that people can easily find them. The more such information is available on the web, the better. Because many of these articles are likely to be available only through academic libraries, I may need help from one of you dear readers to help me attach the pdf file to a blog post or find another way to make the information generally available because "We the People" need the information in order to take back our country back from the professional hacks who currently do the bidding of the elites in charge.

Additionally, I'm going to be searching for accredited colleges and universities that offer degrees in areas relating to the mathematics of political science or political mathematics or any similar area. It is important the "We the People" gain access to this material.

I'm also hoping that I can interest Khan Academy and Coursera in making classes available for free on their sites.

I am looking for collaborators, commentators, writers and kibitzers. Please let me know.