How to Count a Vote
Curated by Claude · 12 videos · 2 hr 17 min
Every election thread on Hacker News turns into a voting theory seminar, and these are the videos commenters keep linking. The order is a short course: first the problem with plurality voting, then the alternatives and their failure modes, then the math that says no system is perfect, then how district maps and ballot counting can be gamed. Most are under 15 minutes.
Play all on YouTube- 16:31
Why Your Vote Doesn't Count
7.9M views • 15 years agoCGP GreyCGP Grey explains first-past-the-post voting and why it pushes elections toward two dominant parties. It is the first in his series on electoral systems.Starts with the problem: HN's default explainer of how first-past-the-post pushes any country toward two parties.
- 214:03
Simulating alternate voting systems
4.5M views • 6 years agoPrimerPrimer uses simulations to compare voting systems such as first-past-the-post, approval, ranked choice and others. It shows how each system behaves and can be manipulated, with links to further voting theory resources.Primer's simulated voters run plurality, ranked choice and approval side by side, so you see each system's behavior instead of taking it on faith.
- 33:35
How our voting system (and IRV) betrays your favourite candidate
35K views • 12 years agoThe Center for Election ScienceThe Center for Election Science explains favorite betrayal in instant-runoff voting: in some elections, ranking your favorite first can cause your least favorite to win. It contrasts this with plurality voting's spoiler problem.A three-minute warning before you fall for ranked choice: the clip HN posts to show that instant runoff can still punish voters for ranking their favorite first.
- 423:34
Why Democracy Is Mathematically Impossible
10.1M views • 2 years agoVeritasiumVeritasium explains why no voting system can be perfectly fair, drawing on Arrow's theorem and the work of Eric Maskin. It looks at problems with systems like first-past-the-post and ranked-choice voting.Veritasium turns the specific flaws into a general result, walking through Arrow's theorem and why every ranked method gives something up.
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6:23How We Should Vote (Range Voting)
43K views • 10 years agoUndefined BehaviorA six-minute explainer from Undefined Behavior on range (score) voting. It follows an earlier video on Arrow's Theorem and shows how range voting seems to satisfy the criteria Arrow's Theorem says no ranked system can.Picks up right where Arrow leaves off, showing how score voting sidesteps the theorem by having voters rate candidates instead of ranking them.
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6:18Animated Voting Methods
16K views • 9 years agoUnify The VoteAn animated simulation comparing single-winner voting methods such as plurality, instant runoff and STAR. Colored regions show which candidate wins as a randomized electorate shifts across a two-dimensional political space, building on Ka-Ping Yee's earlier diagrams.A little-watched gem: colored win regions across a 2D political space make the case for cardinal methods like STAR better than any argument could.
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6:47The Voting System That's Actually Too Good for Politicians to Allow
10.4M views • 12 years agoCGP GreyCGP Grey explains the Single Transferable Vote, a proportional ranked-ballot system, and why politicians have little incentive to adopt it. It is a short animated explainer of how multi-winner ranked voting works.Moves from picking one winner to filling a legislature, with HN's standard link for single transferable vote and why incumbents avoid it.
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26:48Algorithmic Redistricting: Elections made-to-order
584K views • 5 years agoAlphaPhoenixAlphaPhoenix uses Monte Carlo simulation and annealing-style methods to draw North Carolina congressional district maps, both gerrymandered and fair. He focuses on the fascinating computational problem rather than the politics.Even a perfect ballot fails if the map is rigged: AlphaPhoenix uses Monte Carlo search to draw North Carolina districts fair and foul.
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5:04Liquid Democracy In Simple Terms
76K views • 13 years agopxiA five-minute animated explainer of liquid democracy, in which voters can delegate their vote to trusted people. It starts from the origins of democracy and contrasts direct and representative models.A brief detour into a more radical idea HN keeps returning to: lending your vote to someone you trust, and taking it back when you like.
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12:01Why Electronic Voting Is Still A Bad Idea
5.1M views • 6 years agoTom ScottTom Scott explains why electronic voting is a bad idea. Elections must be trusted by everyone and attacks on software scale in ways attacks on paper do not, so open source or blockchain fixes do not solve it.Then the counting itself: Tom Scott's argument, linked in nearly every e-voting thread, that software attacks scale in ways attacks on paper cannot.
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8:34Was YOUR vote counted? (feat. homomorphic encryption) - Numberphile
198K views • 10 years agoNumberphileNumberphile interviews cryptographer Ron Rivest about end-to-end verifiable voting. He explains how homomorphic encryption and receipts let a voter confirm their ballot was counted without being able to prove how they voted to anyone else.The cryptographer's reply: Ron Rivest explains how a receipt can prove your vote was counted without letting you prove to anyone how you voted.
- 12
17:46Why do Biden's votes not follow Benford's Law?
3.7M views • 5 years agoStand-up MathsMatt Parker examines claims that Biden's 2020 vote counts violate Benford's Law, explaining the law and why it often does not apply to precinct-level election data.Ends with auditing results: Matt Parker shows when Benford's Law can catch fraud and why it does not apply to precinct totals.