Polarization in the Maine Senate and House is increasing

November 20, 2022 — One discovery we made in the Maine Senate and House data is that between 2017 and 2022 average voting polarization in the Maine Senate and House has increased from 60% to almost 80%. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, over this period, the percentage of bipartisan votes, where most Democrats and Republicans vote together, … Continue reading "Polarization in the Maine Senate and House is increasing"

Easy access to Maine Senate and House voting histories for undecided voters

November 19, 2022 — To help Maine voters make their final decisions for the Maine Senate and House of Representatives elections next week, we developed a new website (https://dash.democracygps.org) that allows visitors to easily explore and compare the voting histories of Maine politicians. For example, visitors can compare the voting histories of Nicole Grohoski and … Continue reading "Easy access to Maine Senate and House voting histories for undecided voters"

Piedmont Public Safety Camera Survey: Preliminary Results

I’ve analyzed initial results from our pol-is survey about the proposed expansion of Piedmont’s public safety camera program. A presentation describing this analysis is below.

Fixing Our Democracy (CPS Day 2020)

On 1/28/20, I am leading two hour long sessions on electronic democracy at College Prep (a.k.a. CPS) in Oakland, CA. Below are some links to more information. This blog: http:/democracygps.org/ Real-time audience response systems: http://mentimeter.com (1 year free for students; $10-25/mo. afterwards; can’t edit imported powerpoint slides) https://www.polleverywhere.com/ (free for audiences < 25; $10/mo. for … Continue reading "Fixing Our Democracy (CPS Day 2020)"

Operational updates

We patched a security vulnerability on our wordpress blog that temporarily allowed the title to change to an advertisement for a bailbond service. This vulnerability was very unlikely to have compromised any personal information on the discussion pages, and it did not affect the polling data stored on polis.democracygps.org at all. We also noticed that … Continue reading "Operational updates"

Piedmont Public Safety Cameras

The city of Piedmont, CA is in the process of evaluating and considering an expanded public safety camera program and may discuss further at a June City Council meeting. If you are a Piedmont resident, and to help ensure that the City Council understands your views on public safety cameras, please visit polis.democracygps.org/piedmont-camera to vote on … Continue reading "Piedmont Public Safety Cameras"

Bernie Sanders would likely have been elected president in 2016 with ranked choice voting

January 20, 2018 — My day job has impeded my progress, but, in honor of the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration as our president, I am releasing the first results from on my ranking voting polling and simulations. I want to emphasize that this study is not trying to question the actual outcome of … Continue reading "Bernie Sanders would likely have been elected president in 2016 with ranked choice voting"

A Conservative Argument for Algorithmic Democracy

Below is an essay I submitted to the 2016/17 William F. Buckley, Jr. Ideas Forum and Contest. I was not a finalist, but I appreciated the opportunity to make the conservative argument for algorithmic democracy. Algorithmic Democracy and a Free Societyby C.R. Krenn (democracygps@gmail.com) (11/12/17) In 1950, William F. Buckley Jr. was frustrated by the state … Continue reading "A Conservative Argument for Algorithmic Democracy"

Survey on possible effects of ranked voting in the 2016 U.S. presidential election

Because ranked choice voting is growing in popularity for state and local elections and because of the particularly fierce competition in the 2016 U.S. presidential primary and general elections, an obvious question to ask is how ranked voting would have affected the U.S. presidential election. To answer this, we need data, in particular, data from … Continue reading "Survey on possible effects of ranked voting in the 2016 U.S. presidential election"

Action inspired by the 2016 Code for America Summit and Trump's election

The recent 2016 Code for America Summit was full of inspiring stories of civic tech successes. And, as our country responds to the presidential election, political leadership also matters. The right political leadership is needed to take advantage of our civic tech successes and to enable more in the future. Is Donald Trump the right … Continue reading "Action inspired by the 2016 Code for America Summit and Trump's election"

Introduction to democracyGPS

September 5, 2016 — Are you frustrated with the overwhelming influence of money in politics and by how little our individual actions seem to affect government policies? Imagine an online system that moves beyond both direct democracy and representative democracy to more directly connect voters’ opinions though decision making delegates to policy and legislation compromises … Continue reading "Introduction to democracyGPS"