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How Voting Theory and Survey
Design Relate to Deliberative
Democracy
Robert Cavalier
Department of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University
Co-Director, Program for Deliberative Democracy
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, EE.UU.

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eliberative democrats highlight
the importance of a truly informed and engaged citizenry.
Whether dealing with issues affecting a
local community or larger issues affecting public policy, proponents of deliberative democracy seek to create conditions for inclusive, well-structured discussions. The emphasis is on what happens prior to a decision so that the decision reflects input from all parties involved. In political terms, the emphasis
is on what happens before we vote. But
the outcomes of these deliberations also
matter. And how we measure these outcomes matters, whether it be through a
vote or a survey. There is a considerable
literature on both voting systems and
survey design. Deliberative democrats
need to appreciate the relevance of each
so that deliberation can find its place
within these fields.
Voting Theory
A central idea of democracy is that each
person counts as one and no more than

one. This basic principle of equality is
seen in the emphasis placed on voting
and the political desire of candidates and
parties to gain the most number of votes.
In cases where there is a clear distinction
between two candidates or policy choices, a majority vote usually carries the
day. Of course, there are problems with
a purely aggregative, procedural model
of democracy – the input might be equal
but the output could be discriminatory.
The majority might wish to violate the
basic rights of a minority. That’s why
democratic theorists turn to an independent judiciary or a bill of rights or
various constitutional guarantees that
protect basic rights. There are also interesting theoretical concerns in the selection of a voting system itself, since there
are many different ways to cast a ballot
or make a selection. Furthermore, researchers have shown that every voting
model has some drawbacks. While the
original founders of the US constitution
did not envision a ‘party system,’ factions naturally arose and overtime the

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