The constitutional right of equal vote vs weighted voting: historical events and the Banzhaf power index
A team project for MA279, Fall 2013
Team members: Shuaijia Dai, Bo Ling, Rustam Orazaliyev, Matthew D Parr, Christopher Patrick
Don't copy and paste, the page goes mad. Make sure to paraphrase everything you write and include references for it.
I. Introduction. (Bo Ling)
(SECTION 2. The right of citizens of the United States to vote and to participate in elections on an equal basis shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of political-party affiliation or prior condition of incarceration.)
II. Equal vote definition, example, where it is used. Equal voting Historical Timeline in the USA. (Christopher Patrick)
III. Weighted voting definition, example, where it is used. When the US started to use it(Matthew D Parr)
III-IV Should be connected somehow.
IV. Banzhaf index, and Banzhaf index relation to our historical events. (Shuaijia Dai)
V. Violation of equal vote by weighted voting and historical events.
Nowadays, social inequality is considered to be one of the biggest problems the modern society faces. Therefore, the majority of developed countries, especially the US launch programs and invest big amounts of money to fight with social inequality. However, what the US government forgets about is its own voting system. The US uses weighted voting system in the presidential election. Considering the fact how important the principle of equality nowadays is, the use of weighted voting system in such a developed country is at least unexpected.
Violating of equal vote privilege:
Something like: "George W. Bush took every single electoral-college vote in the South and found a majority of his electoral-college votes there. Meanwhile, the majority of African Americans, more than 20 million, live in the South and gave A1 Gore better than go percent of their vote. Yet because of the winner-take-all method of distributing electoral-college votes, black votes in the South-even when counted-had zero impact on the election."
VI. Conclusion. (Bo Ling)
Reference.
