EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A Michigan State University economics professor and the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research have created a tracker to watch fairness during the election season.

The Partisan Advantage Tracker pulls results from the 2016 and 2020 results from the U.S. President, U.S. Senate and Governor elections in every state.

“The goal is to give the public a more scientific way to debate election outcomes,” said Department of Economics Professor Jon X. Eguia. “In theory, our model allows for use of election data from any election. We will update the Tracker with new data after each election, and each time a state adopts a new congressional redistricting map.”

According to MSU, Eguia spent three months building the calculations that yield four different mathematical measures of fairness.

The calculations from the tracker should indicate the following:

  • The number of congressional seats each party should win according to each of four measures of fairness if voters were to vote in a congressional election as they did in those 2016-2020 statewide elections; and
  • The number of congressional seats each party would win, under maps newly adopted as of mid-May in 2022, again if voters were to vote in a congressional election as they did in those 2016-2020 statewide elections

The newest model for the tracker builds upon past academic research, allowing for political party gains and losses to be processed based upon newly drawn voting maps.

“Ultimately, I see the Partisan Advantage Tracker as a tool to inform the public,” Eguia said. “Ideally, I hope it benefits the public.”