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Animated Voting Methods

Unify The Vote · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Probability & game theoryData visualization & information designUS politics & elections

What it is

An animated simulation comparing single-winner voting methods such as plurality, instant runoff and STAR. Colored regions show which candidate wins as a randomized electorate shifts across a two-dimensional political space, building on Ka-Ping Yee's earlier diagrams.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters cite it in voting-reform threads as a visual argument that cardinal systems (STAR, approval) beat plurality and ranked-choice voting.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2022

What HN commenters said

  1. “I always recommend this pair of videos when discussing STAR voting vs other alternative systems.”

    Animates STAR voting side-by-side with alternative voting systems to compare performance.

    user234683, 2019-10 · Strong recommendation · in “Ranked-choice voting is on the ballot in New York City”

  2. “Simple answer: The math says so”

    Shows mathematically why cardinal systems beat plurality voting.

    godelski, 2020-10 · Recommendation · in “Maine Becomes First State to Use Ranked-Choice Voting in a Presidential Election”

  3. “This video shows the issue very well (one of the people involved in Star voting made it)”

    Shows the problems with ranked choice voting, made by a STAR voting proponent.

    nickik, 2021-06 · Recommendation · in “What is ranked-choice voting and why is New York using it?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: star voting, ranked-choice voting, approval voting, election simulation, voter satisfaction

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