Smart Voting Simulator

This is the home of the Smart Voting Simulator, a great resource to learn how voting methods work, visually and interactively.

You’ll really enjoy this site if you feel like there’s got to be a smarter way to vote than what we’re doing right now.

Intro

The Basics - #1 - Start here. See the 2D model we use for this site.

Finding Common Ground - #2 - Why do we vote? To make smarter group decisions.

In Depth

Condorcet Methods - the best way to find common ground

Approval Voting - a practical improvement - And it works with strategy.

STAR Voting - and a deeper dive into using strategy and the game of chicken.

Instant Runoff Voting - a kinder politics with a kind of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for single-winner elections

The Single Transferable Vote - an introduction to proportional representation with STV, the multi-winner form of Ranked Choice Voting RCV

Proportional Representation - Bring the candidates closer to the voters. Continuing after STV, here are more kinds of proportional representation without parties, using scoring and paired methods.

Primaries - They don't always work.

In Deep

Where to find more information:

• Links - I have a big list of links to communities, organizations, simulators, polling sites, courses, videos, essays, books, references, and bibliographies.

Now that you have learned so much, you can try and share your ideas in the sandbox. Also, try the original simulation that this sim was based on.

Sandbox - Try everything. Share your creations.

To Build a Better Ballot - Nicky Case's original sim

Finally, for coders, here’s technical instructions on how to modify this sim.