analysis of voting, NBA, games, and more
Prompted by this musing on Twitter that Presidential height and quality are correlated, I decided to figure out whether this is true. Some of our most admired Presidents (Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson) were known for being tall, so this feels like it might be true. But is it? To measure which Presidents were the best, I… Continue reading Were the Tallest Presidents the Best?
What voting system should we turn to in this partisan moment? The answer might depend on what we want our elections to do.
Ranked Choice voting is having a bit of a moment in the public consciousness -- at least on the very handicapped scale of voting systems. It promises to avoid some of the unsavory outcomes that occur in the "First Past the Post" Plurality system used in the vast majority of U.S. elections by allowing voters… Continue reading Is Ranked Choice Voting the Hero We Need? (Part 1)
The long months of speculation before the Iowa Caucuses abound with headlines about the "momentum" that a candidate has, including nearly half a million Google results for "Buttigieg Momentum" and one atrocious portmanteau in "Buttimentum". Certainly winning Iowa or New Hampshire can boost a Presidential hopeful's campaign, whereas losing early states can destroy a candidate's… Continue reading Is Momentum Really a Thing in Presidential Primaries (Before the Voting Starts)?