This is the first of 6 activities about elections in which there are more than two choices. This introductory activity gets students thinking about the fairness of a voting rule. If the choice with the most votes wins, it’s possible that the winning choice was preferred by only a small percentage of the voters.
Give students 2–3 minutes of quiet work time followed by a whole-class discussion.
Students in a sixth-grade class were asked, “What activity would you most like to do for field day?” The results are shown in the table.
| activity | number of votes |
|---|---|
| softball game | 16 |
| scavenger hunt | 10 |
| dancing talent show | 8 |
| marshmallow throw | 4 |
| no preference | 2 |
What percentage of the class voted for softball?
What percentage did not vote for softball as their first choice?
The goal of this discussion is to show that in elections with more than two options sometimes the winning choice is not the majority’s choice. Here are some questions for discussion:
Tell students that this system of voting, where everyone gets one vote and the option with the most votes wins, is called plurality voting. Explain that, while 60% of the people did not vote for softball, that does not mean those people were against softball, just that they liked a different option more. In the upcoming activities, students will see other ways of voting, including some that can take this situation into account.
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This is the first of 6 activities about elections in which there are more than two choices. This introductory activity gets students thinking about the fairness of a voting rule. If the choice with the most votes wins, it’s possible that the winning choice was preferred by only a small percentage of the voters.
Give students 2–3 minutes of quiet work time followed by a whole-class discussion.
Students in a sixth-grade class were asked, “What activity would you most like to do for field day?” The results are shown in the table.
| activity | number of votes |
|---|---|
| softball game | 16 |
| scavenger hunt | 10 |
| dancing talent show | 8 |
| marshmallow throw | 4 |
| no preference | 2 |
What percentage of the class voted for softball?
What percentage did not vote for softball as their first choice?
The goal of this discussion is to show that in elections with more than two options sometimes the winning choice is not the majority’s choice. Here are some questions for discussion:
Tell students that this system of voting, where everyone gets one vote and the option with the most votes wins, is called plurality voting. Explain that, while 60% of the people did not vote for softball, that does not mean those people were against softball, just that they liked a different option more. In the upcoming activities, students will see other ways of voting, including some that can take this situation into account.