How to win any election with some mathematics.

maciejficek (55)in #freewrite • 5 years ago

The image above shows 4th congressional district in Illinois, USA.

To win election in USA, You need to win in higher amount of districts than Your opponent (we can assume You have 1 opponent, cause there are unfortunately only 2 choices - Dunkey or Elephant). The advantage or lose in current district is unimportant - it is important only who wins.

It means, that if You know from statistics/research how people in every place tend to vote (and politicians know that cause they have money to know that), with some mathematics, You can divide area into districts such, that in a few districts You lose by a big amount of votes (For example You get 30%, Your opponent 70%); but in the most of districts You win sligthly (For example 51-55% to 45-49%).

Districts have to be consistent. Every house must belong to one and only one district.

Using linear programming (which You can perform in SageMath/Mathematica/Matlab/etc.), You can create district such as that in Illinois.

Here are examples of other districts in Illinois: