Statistics and Philosophy of Voting

3 credits

Considers topics relevant to modern voting and elections through statistical and social choice lenses. Topics include the purpose and limits of democratic decision-making; social choice theory and the associated theorems; judgement aggregation; voting procedures; election case studies; election polling and forecasting; electoral redistricting and gerrymandering; fairness aspects in voting; voting in contexts other than elections. Prerequisite: either STAT 311, STAT 390, STAT 391, or CSE 312; recommended: familiarity with reading and writing proofs; at least one introductory statistics course; and beginner ability with data programming at the level of either CSE 121, CSE 160, or STAT 302. Offered: jointly with CSSS 452/PHIL 452; A, even years.