  In this paper we present a study about minima among random variables, about
the context of voting theory, and about paradoxes related with such topics. In
the field of reliability theory, the term load-sharing model is commonly used
to designate a special type of multivariate survival models. We demonstrate the
effectiveness that such dependence models can have also in some other fields,
such as those of interest here. Several important, and by now classic, papers
have been devoted to single out and to prove general conclusions in the field
of voting theory. We reformulate and achieve such conclusions by developing a
method of proof, alternative to the existing ones, and completely probabilistic
in nature. As main features of this method, we focus attention on ranking
schemes associated to m-tuples of non-negative random variables and suitably
single out a special subclass of load-sharing models. Then we show that all
possible ranking schemes can be conveniently obtained by only considering such
a special family of survival models. This result leads to some new insight
about the construction of voting situations which give rise to all possible
types of voting paradoxes. Our method and related implications will be also
illustrated by means of some examples and informative remarks.
