Aguirre,

Lape, Taylor 1

Blas Aguirre, Carilynn Lape, Chelsea Taylor

Professor Tony Lam

MATH 1030

5 JUNE 2017

VOTING THEORY PROJECT: IOWA CAUCUS

PART 1

So, you might be wondering: what is a caucus? No, it is not a dead body of the trunk

of an animal - thats a carcass - and it isnt a roughly spherical shaped bacterium. That

would be a coccus. The word caucus is a North American Indian word meaning the

gathering of ruling tribal chiefs. The modern definition of caucus describes a local political

party meeting where people gather to openly discuss and eventually vote on their favored

candidate.

Brief History:

Although Iowa held the first Democratic caucus in 1972 and had the first Republican

caucus four years later, the caucus tradition had been going on for nearly a century before

that. Some form of caucus had been around since the early 1800s even before Iowa became

state in 1846 (Iowa Caucus History). The founders of the Iowa constitution decided to stick

with caucuses rather than a traditional primary election; they liked the idea of a more

democracy-in-action approach.

When the Democratic National Convention made several changes to their

nominating processes in the early seventies, Iowa decided their complex caucus system

needed extra time to be perfected, hence the early start in 1972.

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Differs From Primary:

The Iowa Caucus is different from the common Primary Election used by many of

the states. In a typical Primary Election, voters cast their ballots in secret and its done. The

Iowa caucus is unlike a typical Primary Election because it allows caucus goers to discuss

the candidate and allows them the opportunity to persuade, debate and jockey for more

support of their chosen candidate. There is no casting a simple ballot set in stone; instead,

the voter is educated on all candidates within their party and is free to change who they

support throughout the event.

Why Iowa?

The really important thing to remember about Iowa is not that its first because its

important. Iowa is important because its first. Said Kathy OBradovich, political columnist

for the Des Moines Register (Why Does Iowa Vote First, Anyway?). Since 1972 the Iowa

Caucuses have been the major electoral event of the nominating process for the

presidential election, the main reason being: because they go first. If it were any other state

holding the very first caucus of the presidential election year, the significant impact on the

presidential campaign along with the media hype and hysteria would be the same as it is in

Iowa every four years.

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PART 2

For this section of the project we worked on the answers individually while we were

in class and then compared them to verify we had the same answers. Here is what we

found:

i. 100 people total voted

ii. Donald Trump (T) wins using Plurality Method

iii. Using Instant Run Off voting, here is the requested preference schedule:

# Voters 19 6 36 39
1st B B C T
2nd C C B C
3rd T T T B

iv. Removing the candidate with the least 1st choice votes, here is the requested preference

schedule:

# Voters 19 6 36 39
1st C C C T
2nd T T T C

v. Ted Cruz (C) wins using Instant Run Off

vi. Borda Count calculations for each candidate:

B: 205 R: 306 C: 272 T: 217

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vii. Marco Rubio (R) wins by Borda Count

viii. Copelands Method calculations for each candidate:

B: 1 R: 3 C: 2 T: 0

ix. Marco Rubio (R) wins by Copelands Method

x. Yes, there is a Condorcet Candidate

xi. The Condorcet Candidate is Marco Rubio (R)

PART 3

Winner and Fairness Criterion

The winner of this caucus we decided to pick is Marco Rubio. Not only did he win

three out of five methods (which were Borda Count, Copelands Method, and Condorcet)

but when we compare the votes that Marco Rubio received with the votes that other

candidates received, Marco Rubio received the most in every one to one comparison. This

method we used to support our choice is the Condorcet Criterion which states that if

there is a preferred candidate in every one-to-one comparison with the other choices, that

choice should be the winner.

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Works Cited Page:

Article Title.Website Title. Website Publisher, Date Month Year Published.

Iowa Caucus History. Wayne W. Ford. The Iowa Brown & Black Forum B&B. 1

January 2015.

The Iowa Caucuses: An Accident Of History. David Jackson. USA Today. 29 January

2016.

Why Does Iowa Vote First, Anyway? Sam Sanders. NPR KUER 90.1. 29 January

2016.