Election-Campaign Law

Working paper: ?What is the probability your vote will make a difference??

By Michael Alvarez

Andrew Gelman, Nate Silver and Aaron Edlin just posted a working paper, “What is the probability your vote will make a difference?” Here’s the abstract:

One of the motivations for voting is that one vote can make a difference. In a presidential election, the probability that your vote is decisive is equal to the probability your state is necessary for an electoral college win, times the probability the vote in your state is tied in that event. We compute these probabilities for each state in the 2008 presidential election, using state-by-state election forecasts based on the latest polls. The states where a single vote is most likely to matter are New Mexico, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Colorado, where your vote has an approximate 1 in 10 million chance of determining the national election outcome. On average, a voter in America has a 1 in 60 million chance of being decisive in the presidential election.

A timely working paper …

Full post as published by Election Updates on October 28, 2008 (boomark / email).