Unit 9, Lesson 7
Comparing Voting Systems
Grade 6
7.1
Warm-up
Use these symbols to rank your choices for the field trip.
| option | vote |
|---|---|
| baseball game | |
| amusement park | |
| museum | |
| dance |
7.2
Activity
Your class just voted using the instant runoff system. Use the class data for the following questions.
- For our class, which choice received the most points?
- Does this result agree with that from the runoff election in an earlier activity?
-
In the runoff voting system, if there is not a winner from everyone’s first choices another vote is held and voters can change their choice because the least-voted option is eliminated. How does the instant runoff voting system also show voters’ other choices?
- Complete the table to see voters' satisfaction with the instant runoff results. After comparing the satisfaction for the 3 voting rules our class used (plurality, runoff, instant runoff), which method do you think is fairest? Explain your reasoning.
| what points did you give the winner? | number of people | % of people |
|---|---|---|
| top choice (3) | ||
| second choice (2) | ||
| third choice (1) | ||
| last choice (0) |
7.3
Activity
Clare, Han, Mai, Tyler, and Noah are deciding what to do on the weekend. Their options are cooking, hiking, and bowling. Here are the points for their instant runoff vote. Each first choice gets 2 points, the second choice gets 1 point, and the last choice gets 0 points.
| cooking | hiking | bowling | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clare | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Han | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Mai | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Tyler | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Noah | 0 | 2 | 1 |
-
Which activity won using the instant runoff method? Show your calculations, and use expressions or equations.
-
Which activity would have won if there were just a vote for their top choice, with a majority or plurality winning?
-
Which activity would have won if there were a runoff election?
None