The project also studied single-peakedness, social utility, and statistical fingerprinting of real elections. Although real voter preferences rarely satisfy perfect single-peakedness, many elections come surprisingly close. Condorcet methods perform well on social utility under idealized assumptions, but their advantage weakens with more realistic voter behavior. Statistical fingerprinting helps assess whether synthetic elections resemble real ones.

To read the report, access our data and visualizations, and check out our repository of datasets and code, visit the project webpage.

The post Empirical Analysis of Ranked Choice Voting Methods: Phase 2 Report Now Available appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

If you would like to be considered for financial assistance to attend the conference or wish to submit a poster, the registration deadline is January 8, 2027. For all other attendees, the deadline is February 12, 2027. Registration is free for those affiliated with Wellesley College.

We look forward to seeing you at Wellesley in March!

The post Registration Now Open for Democracy Exchange: Research and Practice in Dialogue Conference at Wellesley College appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

The post IMD Affiliates Presenting at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in January appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

Baigali Nyamdulam and Jordyn Barger will work with Prof. David McCune (William Jewell College) to study the spoiler effect in multiwinner ranked choice elections. They will examine which proportional voting rules are most susceptible to “weak” spoiler candidates, using several different notions of weakness.

Madeline Ashton will work with Prof. Kristopher Tapp (St. Joseph’s University) on a project around computational redistricting algorithms. The mathematical core of all such algorithms involves the generation and splitting of random spanning trees. This project will explore old and new methods of generating random spanning trees, and compare their effectiveness at generating ensembles of voting maps.

Mai Li McGhee will work with Prof. Ellen Veomett (University of San Francisco) to use machine learning techniques to estimate the impact of proposed legal or policy changes on voter registration and turnout. In particular, they will look at the SAVE act and the mail-in-ballot executive order (and potentially other proposed legal or policy changes).

Brendan White will work with Prof. Jeff Wheeler (University of Pittsburgh) to further elucidate the underlying mechanism of Duncan Watts’ “model of global cascades on random networks” in a 2002 paper that determined the factors causing a narrow “cascade window” that differentiated between whether a contagion caused a “global cascade” or merely fizzled out locally in the originating subnetwork. The model relies on binary states of nodes that are flipped from zero to one by an arbitrary threshold of its neighbors being in the one state – and form a connection to case studies in social choice theory (e.g. spread of preferences, surge in candidate popularity, etc.).

At Wellesley College, Farah Rajeh and Nyamal Bangoang Riek will work with Prof. Karamatou Yacoubou Djima on a project integrating mathematical tools like Applied Harmonic Analysis (specifically shearlets) with graph-based methods and machine learning to develop affordable computational biomarkers for early autism detection. Democratic systems rely on equal opportunity and civic participation. Early detection using low-cost, low-tech placental imaging offers a universally beneficial, non-partisan approach to public health. Because placental imaging requires no expensive genetic sequencing hardware and can analyze lower-quality images taken under non-optimal conditions, it is uniquely suited for low-income and rural communities. Bridging the healthcare gap between well-funded urban centers and under-resourced regions strengthens equal access to fundamental healthcare infrastructure, which is a key pillar of a fair and inclusive democracy.

Kate Wepsic and Charlotte Chung will work with Prof. Ismar Volić on a joint project between IMD and the University of South California. The goal of the project is to understand whether topics in the intersection of math and civics are taught in K-12 schools and to what extent, and then develop instructional materials in partnership with a curriculum provider and pilot them in several schools.

IMD is grateful to all our faculty mentors for their support. We are excited about the diversity in projects and student interests with the expansion of the fellows program. Stay tuned for more research updates!

The post Introducing 2026-2027 IMD Fellows appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

Until now, the program has primarily supported undergraduate research at Wellesley College. Beginning this year, we would like to extend this opportunity to faculty at other colleges and universities who are interested in supervising their own undergraduate students on research projects related to mathematics and democracy. IMD has funding available to support both the students and the faculty supervising these projects.

Projects can span a broad range of topics at the intersection of mathematics (and related disciplines like statistics, computer science, and data science) and democracy.  Theoretical, empirical, and computational projects in voting and social choice, proportional representation, districting, deliberative democracy, and related areas are all welcome.

For faculty interested in participating in the Fellows Program, please write to contact@math-democracy.org with a brief description of the project you have in mind. You should also feel free to pass this information along to anyone you feel might be a good fit for this program.

The post IMD Fellows Program Expands for 2026-27 appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

Investigating Single-peakedness on Graphical Representations of STV in Scottish Elections – Emma Wong and Wenhao Lu, mentored by Dr. Brian Brubach (Wellesley College) with teaching assistant Valerie Zhu (Wellesley College).

Assessing Fairness in Social Choice Mechanisms: Evaluating Ranking Satisfaction in German Elections – Raina Gao, Mrinalini Sensarma, and Taison Scofield, mentored by Dr. Mostapha Diss (Marie et Louis Pasteur University). And here is the paper resulting from the project.

Minneapolis Ranked Choice Voting – Reese Cartwright and Jenny Chu, mentored by Dr. Natasa Dragovic (University of St. Thomas).

Ballot Generator Models – Arlan Bartfeld, Cloe Chai, and Zifei Zhao, mentored by Dr. Matt Jones (Colby College).

A certain kind of spoiler effect: isolated plurality losers (IPLs) in multi winner ranked choice elections – Arjun Grandhe, Brady Kanter, and Danica Scofield, mentored by Dr. David McCune (William Jewell College).

Multimember Districts Increases Proportional Representation – Zifan Zhao, mentored by Dr. Keaton Quinn (Wellesley College) with teaching assistant Elaine Zhao (Wellesley College).

Modeling Primary Elections – Alexander Kiselgof, Om Lala, and Sasha Ordukhanyan, mentored by Dr. Andy Schultz (Wellesley College) with teaching assistant Gahan Sabir (Wellesley College).

Ballot Length in Single Transferable Voting – Jason Lee, Andy Zhang, and Paige Zhu, mentored by Dr. Kristopher Tapp (Saint Joseph’s University) with teaching assistant Erik Hill (Rice University).

Proportional Representation as Interstate Compacts – Ronit Banga, Eugenia Evangelinos, and Stella Seong, mentored by Dr. Jennifer Wilson (The New School).

The post High School Summer Research Program Final Presentations appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

We look forward to increasing awareness of IMD’s work and facilitating conversations about the role of mathematics in democracy through the ICM screenings of the video. Watch the video here or find it on the homepage of the IMD website!

The post IMD Video to be Shown at International Congress of Mathematicians appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

Counted Out features the work of IMD, and this is the first opportunity for everyone to access the movie for free. We hope you will join us for an afternoon of discovery and dialogue.

Saturday, August 8, 1:00 PST/4:00 EST

Free Event, RSVP Required

The post RSVP to Counted Out’s First Free Virtual Screening appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

Anna Haensch is a Research Associate Professor at the Data Science Institute at University of Wisconsin – Madison. Dr. Haensch works on a broad and evolving set of problems at the intersection of AI, policy, and society. She is especially excited by work that combines mathematical rigor with real-world impact — current projects span data center policy and the energy transition, optimal strategies and opinion dynamics in electoral systems, and connecting AI research to state and federal legislation.

Rachel Hutchinson is Senior Policy Analyst at FairVote, an organization working toward better elections and a more representative democracy. Alongside her work at FairVote in ranked choice voting (RCV) and proportional representation, her areas of research include primary elections, voter behavior, and political polarization.

Jahnavi Rao and Gabriela Gongora Rosales will represent New Voters, a youth-led organization that empowers high school students to be heard and prioritized in politics. Since Rao founded New Voters nine years ago as a high school club, the over 400 directors and interns have civically engaged tens of thousands of high school students through over 1,000 drives in high schools in forty-two states. New Voters has been recognized by the United Nations and featured in Teen Vogue, CNN, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, NBC News, Bloomberg, C-Span, HBO Max and Forbes.

We are so grateful to these speakers for sharing insights from their work with our high school researchers, and we look forward to the new ideas and questions that will arise from these conversations.

The post High School Summer Research Program Hosts Guest Speakers appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.

Greater collaboration between the two spheres of political advocacy and research is necessary to propel mathematically informed democratic reforms. Advocates for systems like ranked choice voting, proportional representation, or participatory budgeting may not necessarily feel confident about the underlying mechanics of these processes, while academics may not fully grasp how their research effects reform or what aspects of their work might be most useful for the practitioners. We look forward to creating a space for productive dialogue and meaningful knowledge exchange between those considering issues around math and politics from both academic and advocacy perspectives.

More information about the conference is forthcoming. Updates will be posted on the conference webpage. We hope you will join us at Wellesley in March!

The post The Democracy Exchange: Research and Advocacy in Dialogue Conference to Take Place March 10-12, 2027 at Wellesley College appeared first on Institute for Mathematics and Democracy.