Title: What is the weight of a vote?
Abstract: One of the most powerful principles in voting rights law goes by the name of "One Person, One Vote" and holds broadly that "the weight and worth of the citizens' votes" should be made as equal as possible. But how to measure voting power is an open question, and one prominent Supreme Court Justice warned his colleagues that their good intentions would lead into a "mathematical quagmire." He was not wrong. This talk will provide an up-to-the minute overview of ideas by mathematicians (and others) to chart a path out of the swamp and come up with good metrics for this basic form of democratic fairness.
Moon Duchin is a Professor of Computer Science and Data Science at The University of Chicago. She has done significant research on the mathematics of redistricting and gerrymandering and founded the Data and Democracy Lab to advance these mathematical studies and their nonpartisan application in the real world. Here is a recent interview of Duchin in the NYT by Siobhan Roberts.