“The Real Preference of Voters”: Madison’s Idea of a Top-Three Election and The Present Necessity of Reform

27 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2025

See all articles by Edward B. Foley

Edward B. Foley

Ohio State University (OSU) - Michael E. Moritz College of Law; Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Program in Law & Public Policy

Date Written: January 14, 2025

Abstract

Madisonian democracy, as James Madison himself propounded it and as it has subsequently become to be practiced in the United States, has been viewed as different from the democratic theory developed by the French philosopher Marquis de Condorcet and the many subsequent scholars of social choice working in Condorcet’s wake. A letter that Madison wrote late in life, however, shows that Madison comprehended and embraced Condorcet’s insights on the mathematics of majority rule. Recognizing the significance of this letter should shape not only our understanding of Madison’s own political thought but also our ideas about the ongoing evolution of Madisonian democracy in America.

Madison’s letter described a Condorcet-based electoral system that, if put into effect, would enable election results to achieve what Madison termed “the real preference of the Voters.” Adopting this electoral system, moreover, would protect Madisonian democracy from the threat of an authoritarian demagogue who is able to prevail currently by first winning a partisan primary and then being more popular than the opposing party’s nominee. Madison’s Condorcet-based system, by contrast, would enable a third consensus-building candidate, who is unable to beat the authoritarian demagogue within their party’s primary, to demonstrate that a majority of the whole electorate’s voters prefer that third candidate to either major-party nominee.

Keywords: Condorcet, democracy, majority, social choice

Suggested Citation

Foley, Edward B., “The Real Preference of Voters”: Madison’s Idea of a Top-Three Election and The Present Necessity of Reform (January 14, 2025). Wisconsin Law Review, forthcoming., Princeton University Program in Law & Public Affairs Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5097563 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5097563

Edward B. Foley (Contact Author)

Ohio State University (OSU) - Michael E. Moritz College of Law ( email )

55 West 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
United States
614-292-4288 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/edward-b-foley/

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Program in Law & Public Policy

United States

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