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The Powerless Voter
Posted:
Nov 28, 2000 10:46 AM
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Key to the cited discussion is the following passage:
>These insights came quickly, but it was many years before Natapoff
>devised his formal mathematical proof. His starting point was the
>concept of voting power. In a fair election, he saw, each voterÃÂÃÂs
>power boils down to this: What is the probability that one personÃÂÃÂs
>vote will be able to turn a national election? The higher the
>probability, the more power each voter commands.
I would argue that, by the definition above, each voter has no power.
A difference of one vote in millions is not measureable, and thus the
probability is zero that one vote can swing a national election. As
the present national election demonstrates, a national election which
ends in a statistical tie is settled not by votes but by a chaotic
legal and propaganda war, the type of struggle in which the
unprincipled rascal has a definite advantage. A single vote is
statistically insignificant and thus cannot break a statistical tie.
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