Subtitles (119)
0:00Queen Lion is looking to make the elections
in her animal kingdom more fair.
0:03Currently she divides her citizens into ranges
each of which selects one representative to
0:07go to the jungle council which makes laws
for the kingdom.
0:10But her citizens are unhappy, and it's easy
to see why: the council is full of monkeys.
0:15Of course some of her citizens are monkeys,
but not all of them.
0:18This council doesn't fairly represent her
kingdom.
0:21Queen lion visits one of the ranges to find
out what's wrong and how to fix it.
0:25In this range there five monkeys, four tigers,
three owls, two lynx and one buffalo.
0:30One of each runs for representative and all
citizens vote for their own species.
0:34The election rule is that the candidate with
the most votes wins, which is the monkey.
0:38But it's a pretty unsatisfying result considering
that 2/3rds of citizens in this range *aren't*
0:43monkeys and wouldn't vote for monkeys.
0:45This is the same across all the ranges of
the kingdom, the monkeys have more votes than
0:50anybody else, so they win all the elections,
even though they are a minority of the total
0:56Closer inspection reveals that the independent
advisors hired to draw the range boundaries
1:00in the first place weren't as independent
as they first appeared.
1:03The result is unhappy citizens who don't trust
the jungle council to make the fairest laws
1:07for all, quite rightly.
1:09Now Queen lion wants to maximize the number
of citizens happy with the election results.
1:13One way to do that is to abolish the ranges
and use a proportional system...
1:17...But her citizens *want* local representatives.
1:19So Queen lion needs a system that both make
her citizens happier by having a more representative
1:24council while keeping local elections in place.
1:27After doing a little research she finds out
how: Single Transferable Vote.
1:31The big change with STV is that ranges send
more than one representative, which may seem
1:36weird, but queen lion decides to test it out:
she takes three ranges which used to each
1:40send one representative and combines them
into one bigger range that will send three.
1:45On election day citizens go to the polls and
the results in this new range are just the
1:49same as they were in the old ranges: 34% for
Monkey, 33% for Owl and 33% for Lynx.
1:53But this isn't most votes wins: with STV to
figure out the winners take the total votes
1:56and divide by the number of representatives
needed, in this case 3 which gives 33% as
2:02the amount a candidates needs to win.
2:04So *all three* candidates go to the council
-- which accurately represents the citizens
2:09Whereas under the old system each range would
have sent a monkey.
2:13Leaving 2/3rd of the citizens without representation.
2:15A bigger range with more representatives allows
the range to be more proportional.
2:20This test turned out well, but it was also
as simple as could be -- now Queen Lion wants
2:24to see what happens in a race where not everyone
is a winner.
2:27The next big range she tests has five candidates
running for office: Gorilla, Tasier, Monkey,
2:32Tiger, and Lynx, three of which can be representatives.
2:36Election day comes and goes, and here are
the results of citizens first choices:
2:40Tasier gets 5%
Gorilla gets 28%
2:43Monkey gets 33%
Tiger gets 21%
2:47As before, a candidate needs 33% to win.
2:50Monkey has that as so is immediately selected
as one of the three representatives.
2:55But no one else reached the winning 33% so
how are the other two representatives selected?
2:59Step one: get rid of the biggest loser.
3:01Sorry tasier -- you really had no chance at
all.
3:04Now, when the citizens voted, they could have
just put an X next to the candidate they liked
3:07most but with STV they can also rank their
favorite candidates.
3:12This is important because it shows how the
election would have turned out if one of the
3:16candidates hadn't run.
3:18Tiny and Worried Tasiers would have voted
for the big calm gorilla without tasier in
3:23So if their candidate can't win, they want
their votes to go to Gorilla instead.
3:28This pushes gorilla up to 33% and he become
the next representative.
3:32Ranking allows citizens to support their favorite
candidate without worry -- there's no point
3:36in strategizing about how everyone else is
going to vote.
3:38The system works to maximize voter happiness
with the result.
3:42Back to the range: there's still one representative
to select, so the next biggest loser is Lynx.
3:46His voters don't like simians, but they do
think tiger's interests are similar to theirs
3:50and so if Lynx can't win they want him to
have their votes.
3:53Tiger gets reaches 33% and becomes the third
and final representative.
3:57The election result looks pretty good especially
considering citizens first *and* second choices.
4:02Now more citizens have a local representative
they can feel comfortable approaching, whereas
4:06using the old system, everybody gets a monkey.
4:09Lastly queen lion wants know what happens
in a range with just two political parties.
4:13Under the most-votes-wins systems, multiple
candidates from the same party would be a
4:17disaster: they'd split their voters and hand
the win to their opposition.
4:20Queen lion makes one last test range with
2/3rd tigers and 1/3 gorillas that as before,
4:26needs three representatives.
4:28Because with STV citizens rank their candidates
there can be more than one candidate running
4:33at the same time without any problems.
4:36The tigers run two candidates as do the gorillas.
4:40White tiger becomes the first representative,
but what happens next?
4:52While tiger seems to be the biggest loser,
it's also obvious that he would have gotten
4:57way more votes if white tiger wasn't in the
race.
5:01If a candidate has more votes than they need,
like white tiger does, the first step is to
5:05give the extra votes to their second choice.
5:08This gets tiger to 33% and he becomes the
next representative.
5:12If that seems strange, there are two things
to consider:
5:141) If instead the extra votes were ignored,
and tiger eliminated then the gorillas would
5:18get the remaining two wins, which would obviously
not be represent the range.
5:232) Ignoring these 'extra' votes is punishing
citizens who backed the popular candidate,
5:27which makes voters start thinking about how
everyone else will vote, rather than what
5:34If a candidate gets extra votes in the first
place it also means that those who voted for
5:39him are a big section of the population and
thus fairly should get more representation.
5:44Right: after the extra votes go to tiger,
the election finishes as before: Silverback
5:48came in last, is eliminated and his voters'
second choice is the younger candidate so
5:54And the results are fair.
5:55Queen Lion has now seen STV work.
5:57Whether a range has one party or lots the
process is still the same:
6:03Citizens rank their favorite candidates.
6:05Any candidate above the threshold wins immediately,
3.
6:07'Extra' votes go to their next choice.
6:10If no winner, last place is eliminated, and
the votes to go their next choice.
6:14Repeat until all the winners are found.
6:16This whole this process is designed to maximize
the number of citizens who are happy with
6:21This process gives STV has many advantages
over the old, most-votes-wins system:
6:26Citizens can honestly vote for their favorite
candidate without worrying about what everyone
6:31It's more proportional.
6:32So monkeying with the borders matters less.
6:35Almost all citizens will have a local representative
they actually voted for.
6:39In the end Queen lion decides to switch the
council's elections to Single Transferable
6:42Vote to make a better jungle council for all.
