[PyMCon Web Series] Protecting Voting Rights With PyMC - Q&A

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ποΈ Speaker: Todd Hendricks | β° Time: 1pm PST / 8pm UTC / 4pm ET / 10pm Berlin
Voting, elections, and democracy are hot topics. In the United States, one of the most important laws in this domain, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), calls for fairness in the design of election systems so that minorities have an equal opportunity to participate. But elections are complicated phenomena. How do we know when that opportunity has been taken away?
This talk describes how that question is answered with a PyMC implementation of a beta-binomial hierarchical model. In a narrower legal context, the qualitative question of opportunity is inferred by the degree to which an electorate is polarized along racial lines. As the thinking goes, if a minority group has drastically different preferences than the majority, then the minority is exposed and vulnerable to partisan actors who might implement policy designed to weaken the political power of that group. Gerrymandering is a popular example.
The model produces parameter estimates that speak directly to this legal question. Designed in the early 2000s, the model has matured to the point that legal doctrine has coalesced around the quality of its estimates; it forms the backbone of a critically important civil rights law. The talk will discuss the Python implementation and how the posterior is interpreted to inform litigation decisions.
π’ Note: This session is exclusively for Q&A. We kindly request you to watch the recording before joining the event. For additional information and further discussion, please refer to this Discourse post.
π Discourse post: https://discourse.pymc.io/t/12131
π Notebook: On Colab
π Toddβs Interview: PyMCon Webseries - Meet Todd Hendricks
π Toddβs Recording: (coming soon)
π Outline of Talk / Agenda:
- 5 min: Intro to PyMCon Web Series and Speakers
- min: Q&A
πΌ About the Speaker:
- Todd Hendricks
Todd is a Data Analyst with the Legal Defense Fund, the oldest civil rights organization in America. At LDF, Todd supports federal voting rights litigation targeting discriminatory election systems. He applies PyMC hierarchical models for developing evidence in the diligence process.
π Connect with Todd:
π LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-hendricks/
π GitHub: https://github.com/tahentx
π Code of Conduct:
Please note that participants are expected to abide by PyMC's Code of Conduct.
π Connecting with PyMC
πΊ PyMCon Web Series: https://pymcon.com/
π₯ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pymc/
π¦ Twitter: https://twitter.com/pymc_devs
π₯ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pymc-devs
π€ Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/pymc-online-meetup/
π Mastodon: https://bayes.club/@pymc
π¬ Discourse, Q&A/Discussion: https://discourse.pymc.io
π GitHub: https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc

[PyMCon Web Series] Protecting Voting Rights With PyMC - Q&A