Mathematical Digest

"The Fairest Vote of All," by Partha Dasgupta and Eric Maskin, Scientific American, March 2004

The authors present the various systems used to elect student councils tonational leaders; give examples of problems and perplexing election results inthe 2000 U.S. and 2002 France presidential elections; explain how "truemajority rule and rank-order voting result in dramatically different outcomes;"and propose changes that would more accurately represent voters' wishes.

--- Annette Emerson