GED Election Practice Question Answer

I’ve been looking into this election stuff, and how we vote for president. We’ve got primaries, that narrow it down… then, we usually vote between two main people. But how do we get it down to two people? Is it fair? Well, I’m tryin’ to figure it out, so I’m tryin’ some GED math examples that have got to do with elections and voting. Yeah, GED math. See, I try to make my practice questions and studying about things that are interesting to me. So, that’s what I say… find what you’re interested in and study that!

Anyway, you’re here for the GED practice question, right? Here was what I asked about:

Suppose a family decides to vote on a place to visit on vacation. Dad loves the mountains but hates the beach (too sandy!). He would enjoy Disneyland (but not as much as the mountains). Mom loves the beach but hates the mountains (too many steep trails to climb!). She would enjoy Disneyland (but not as much as the beach). Alice loves the beach but hates the mountains (just like Mom!). She also would enjoy Disneyland (but not as much as the beach). Tommy loves Disneyland more than anything else! He can’t stand the mountains (boring!) or the beach (too hot!)

If everyone votes for their favorite, the BEACH will get 2 votes (Mom and Alice), the MOUNTAINS will get 1 vote (Dad), and DISNEYLAND will get 1 vote (Tommy). So, the BEACH wins!

Is the BEACH really the best choice for the family vacation? Think about it. Half of the family members (Dad and Tommy) hate the beach. Should the family really go to a spot that half of the family hates? Is there a better choice? Look back at the preferences of each family member and see if you can suggest a ‘better’ vacation spot. Is ‘the most first place votes wins’ method really the best method here?

GED Practice Question Part 1: If everyone votes for a first and second choice, how many votes would there be for each choice?

GED-type Answer: This is what the GED calls number sense… figuring out how to do something and then doing the math. So, if everyone voted for a first and second choice, it’d look like this:

Dad: First choice, mountains. Second choice, Disneyland.

Mom: First choice, beach. Second choice, Disneyland.

Alice: First choice, beach. Second choice, Disneyland.

Tommy: First choice, Disneyland. Second choice, none (or some random place).

All together, there’d be one vote for the mountains, two for the beach, four for Disneyland, and one blank or random choice. Even if Tommy voted for the beach for second choice, even though he hates it, most votes would be for Disneyland! Disneyland would win!

GED Practice Question Part 2: If everyone votes either FOR or AGAINST each vacation choice, how many for and against votes would each choice get?

GED-type Answer: If everyone votes for or against each choice, it’d look like this:

Dad: For: Mountains. For: Disneyland. Against: Beach.

Mom: For: Beach. For: Disneyland. Against: Mountains.

Alice: For: Beach. For: Disneyland. Against: Mountains.

Tommy: For: Disneyland. Against: Beach. Against: Mountains.

So, here’s the results:

Mountains: 1 for, 3 against. Mountains lose!

Beech: 2 for, 2 against. Beach is tied.

Disneyland: 4 for, 0 against. Disneyland wins!

Now, don’t both these ways of voting seem to give a more fair result than just plain voting for one place? So why don’t we vote like this between a bunch of candidates instead of voting for one primary candidate and then for one candidate for president? That’s what I wanna know!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.