Voting systems for environmental decisions

Burgman, Mark A

Regan, Helen M

Maguire, Lynn A

Colyvan, Mark

Justus, James

Martin, Tara G

Rothley, Kris

2017-08-04T17:41:27Z

2017-08-04T17:41:27Z

2014-01-01

Voting systems aggregate preferences efficiently and are often used for deciding conservation priorities. Desirable characteristics of voting systems include transitivity, completeness, and Pareto optimality, among others. Voting systems that are common and potentially useful for environmental decision making include simple majority, approval, and preferential voting. Unfortunately, no voting system can guarantee an outcome, while also satisfying a range of very reasonable performance criteria. Furthermore, voting methods may be manipulated by decision makers and strategic voters if they have knowledge of the voting patterns and alliances of others in the voting populations. The difficult properties of voting systems arise in routine decision making when there are multiple criteria and management alternatives. Because each method has flaws, we do not endorse one method. Instead, we urge organizers to be transparent about the properties of proposed voting systems and to offer participants the opportunity to approve the voting system as part of the ground rules for operation of a group. © 2014 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of the Society for Conservation Biology.

1523-1739

0888-8892

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15184

Wiley

Conservation Biology

10.1111/cobi.12209

Voting systems for environmental decisions

Journal article

322

332

2

Duke

Duke Science & Society

Environmental Sciences and Policy

Initiatives

Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

Nicholas School of the Environment

Published

28