the Evil Line

We need a new voting method. Maybe modeled after ancient Sparta:

Count each candidate’s stars or points, and the winner is the one with the highest average score [...]. This is known as range voting, and it goes back to an idea considered by Laplace at the start of the nineteenth century. It also resembles ancient forms of acclamation in Sparta. The more you like something, the louder you bash your shield with your spear, and the biggest noise wins.

Range voting is in some sense the best, but I like approval voting better because of its simplicity.

Besides fixing the voting system, math can rescue democracy in another way this year. We just finished a census, so now state legislatures will decide how to redistrict congressional seats. We can do better.