Simulated Song Contest

We were approached by a professional awards organization that was struggling with issues of mistrust and rumors of collusion in its flagship annual contest. The problem was clear: their massive organization simply produced too many nominees for any one voting member to realistically consider their entire ballot. They needed help evaluating alternative voting methods and, more importantly, cultivating trust among their members that whatever new method was chosen would lead to fairer outcomes.

So, even before we began evaluating different voting techniques, we were brainstorming how we could eventually let the clients explore these techniques for themselves. As a prototype of how to do both at once, we crafted an explorable explanation, inspired by Nicky Case’s To Build a Better Ballot.

The simulation takes readers to a fictional tropical island whose entire economy is made of musicians, where the annual Song of the Year contest is plagued with relatable problems. Through various rounds, we explore tradeoffs and outcomes of different voting methods, showing that it is possible to achieve fair outcomes reliably even if every voter’s ballot doesn’t contain the full list of nominees.

Crafting this simulation was delightfully collaborative. We even learned about Condorcet Voting from a colleague’s partner’s office guacamole contest! Plus, this early prototype is publicly shareable, so you can play with it for yourself.