Exploring Bias in the US Electoral College System via Big-Data Simulation

Anthony Breitzman

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The United States is unique among world democracies. It is the only country where a democratically elected leader is elected indirectly through a mechanism known as the Electoral College. Although the system has resulted in only five instances in 228 years where the loser of the popular vote has ultimately won the presidency through the Electoral College, this has happened twice in the last five elections. Still the perception among most Americans is that while the system may be arcane and unnecessary, it probably benefits both parties equally. This paper shows the results from running twelve million election simulations under various assumptions and shows that currently the Electoral College is biased heavily in favor of Republican candidates.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2018
EditorsYang Song, Bing Liu, Kisung Lee, Naoki Abe, Calton Pu, Mu Qiao, Nesreen Ahmed, Donald Kossmann, Jeffrey Saltz, Jiliang Tang, Jingrui He, Huan Liu, Xiaohua Hu
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages4304-4312
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9781538650356
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 22 2019
Event2018 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2018 - Seattle, United States
Duration: Dec 10 2018Dec 13 2018

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2018 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2018

Conference

Conference2018 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle
Period12/10/1812/13/18

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Information Systems

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