Associate Professor of Mathematics Gregory Call and Professor of Politics Douglas Amy of Mount Holyoke College jointly delivered a lecture last Wednesday called "Our Electoral System: Isn't There a Better Way?" The talk was sponsored by Amherst Students Acting Politically (ASAP).

Amy, who specializes in voting systems, voiced his distaste for winner-take-all elections and suggested that America adopt a system of proportional representation for many of its legislative positions, while Call considered different voting systems and a the proof of a mathematical conjecture known as Arrow's Impossibility Theorem.

Amy began his remarks with what he described as "a whirlwind tour of what's wrong with the electoral college." Paramount in his criticisms of the way America elects its president was that the individual who wins the election might lose the popular vote. "There is always the possibility of the election going to the wrong person," Amy said. "The winner should be the one who gets the most votes."

For presidential elections, America should "scrap the electoral college," said Amy.

Amy said that the winner-take-all paradigm is outmoded and denies representation to minorities and other special interest groups. "In the last ten years, nearly all of the emerging democracies have embraced proportional elections," he said.

Amy said that proportional representation would "have the effect of representing upwards of 80 to 90 percent of Americans' various interests groups." He added that, "If a group of Hispanics makes up 20 percent of the population, it should have 20 percent of the seats."

The second half of the lecture began with Call considering different voting systems, in which a set of individual preference lists are used to produce a single preference list for the whole society.

Call created a few preference lists and held elections based on four different voting systems. He then enumerated two properties that any voting system would have to possess to be fair in every election among three or more candidates.

One voting system that meets the two criteria, Call said, is to appoint a dictator. "Are there any other [solutions]?" he asked.

The answer: "No." This result is known as Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, named for Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel laureate in economics.

Call said that if there was enough student interest, a class on mathematics and politics could be offered in the future.

Lisa Blumsack '04 enjoyed the talk. "They weren't just saying what the problems with the current system are, they were exploring alternatives," she said.