TITLE:
Representation Distortions in Multiwinner Elections
AUTHORS:
Uri Kinrot
KEYWORDS:
Primaries, Multiwinner, Representation, Voters, Preferences, Elections, Party
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.2,
February
21,
2023
ABSTRACT: The manifestation of voters’ preferences with respect to representation
considerations in the results of multiple-winners primary elections is studied,
using both a real example and a simulation of a simple model. For the real
example, results from primaries in Meretz party in Israel are analyzed with
respect to three representation considerations (“new faces”, ethnic origin and
gender). For the simulation, a model of distribution of support between
candidates in two representation groups is used, combining uniform distribution
with bias, or partly based on empirical results from real elections. It is
shown that large deviations between voters’ preferences and the election
results may exist, and in fact predicted as the most common result in typical
scenarios.