Questions tagged [voting-systems]
For questions about rule systems for scoring votes. Not for questions about country-specific rules or practices but for the theory and practice of voting systems. Examples include proportional-representation and first-past-the-post.
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In countries using Single Transferable Vote, how are voting results presented?
In electoral systems based on parties, it is easy to publish the results: it is sufficient to publish the number of votes each party received. These numbers contain all the information that is needed ...
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Why the US does not have strong local parties except in Puerto Rico?
Often as a cause of two-party system in the US cited the first-past-the-post system. (see also Duverger's Law).
But theoretically this should not prevent having strong local state-level parties.
It ...
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What is the maximum number of seats possible in the Bundestag?
As we know, the German Bundestag uses a mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, with constituency votes that are majoritarian (299 seats) and party votes that are proportional (299 seats), ...
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What is an example of a political process in which every person’s vote amounts to something?
One of the most common grievances against elections is that it doesn’t matter if you vote because it won’t make a difference how the world is or significantly sway the outcome of an election.
What is ...
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What is the significance of the non-dictatorship principle in Arrow's theorem, and does this example fit the definition of a dictator? [duplicate]
Arrow's non-dictatorship principle states that "no single voter possesses the power to always determine the group's preference."
I am unsure if I am missing some nuance from this definition, ...
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Which electoral systems minimise the extent to which political parties control who gets elected?
Political parties are, obviously, very important in democratic systems. Most candidates will be selected by a party. But many systems make it easy for the party to control which specific members end ...
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What if no party crosses the electoral threshold in a parliamentary election?
In some countries, there is an electoral threshold that political parties must cross to win seats in the parliament.
For example, in Germany, the threshold is 5% of national votes, in Sweden the ...
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Which voting system criterion requires that changing your preference order of some candidates won't affect whether other candidates are elected?
Consider an election in which one voter's preference order was Alice > Bob > Carol. If she were to change her preference order to Carol > Alice > Bob, there are 9 possibilities as to what ...
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Why does it have to be 50-50 in Germany's Bundestag [duplicate]
In Germany's Bundestag, 299 seats are for proportional representation and the other 299 are for regional representation in a first-past-the-post system. Is it just a coincidence that the seats are ...
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How do party-list systems accommodate independent candidates?
I'm curious if there are countries that use party-list system while also allowing independent candidates to run?
Logistically, what would the implementation look like? Do the independent candidates ...
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How prevalent is AI in electoral counting in different countries, or why is it not more prevalent?
How prevalent is AI in electoral counting in different countries, or why is it not more prevalent ?
I see an ideal electoral counting system as one using both AI and human counters
At each human ...
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Ranked voting by a committee when some members cannot vote for a particular candidate because of a conflict of interest
I'm in a 12-person committee where we have to rank 5 candidates whom we have interviewed for a position. Some members of the committee have a conflict of interest, so they had to leave the room when a ...
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Did the 2022 Alaska congressional special election have a Condorcet winner, who was not elected?
Does anyone know if Begich may have been the Condorcet winner? Nic Tideman emailed me a few days ago, asking me this question.
I sure as hell do not know unless we can get the records of the ...
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Would ranked choice voting force single issue voters to vote for more than one candidate or not be counted? [closed]
I am running for Senate in NJ in 2024 and I believe my voting bloc is merely a plural majority of all eligible voters but maybe not a majority (and probably not current voters, btw).
If this is the ...
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Difference between RCV and STV
My question is about de difference between RCV and STV.
If I am correct they are both voting systems where you are selecting multiple candidates and where the candidate with the lowest amount of votes ...
user43556
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Polarization and electoral systems
Posted this question on Reddit. I am crossposting it here as well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskSocialScience/comments/vpnviu/polarization_and_electoral_systems/
Is there research linking polarization ...
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In open-list systems, how do individual candidates promote themselves while being a team player?
In open-list systems, political candidates are expected to promote their party platform while simultaneously advocate for a personal mandate so they can rise higher on the list.
This might create a ...
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What is the point in having a democracy if it is unable to elect the smartest people? [closed]
Check this answer:
https://politics.stackexchange.com/a/11185/32479
The government is supposed to be representative of its people. If the people are a bunch of idiots then the government should ...
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Ranked choice voting: Can a candidate who got dropped in early round come back in later rounds?
Location: Any country or state that uses RCV. One that has used it for a while and worked out the kinks would be preferable. Edit for clarity: I am talking about the “instant runoff” kind of RCV in a ...
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What are the possible solutions for a "stupid people in large numbers" situation in a democracy? [closed]
Context
It's said that "Democracy counts the heads but doesn't weigh the brains". I think there's a book with that title but I didn't read it.
So, what if the less intelligent people ...
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Is there a ranked voting variant that prevents vote selling and identification?
As acknowledged also on Wikipedia, one of the drawbacks of ranked choice voting is that "it is likely that many preference voting patterns will be unique to individual voters, which could allow ...
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What are the disadvantages to 2-round elections where the top candidates from the first round compete head-to-head in the second round?
This is the election system in France and Ukraine. In the first round anyone can run. If no candidate wins an absolute majority, then the top two candidates go to a second round where they face off ...
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What happens when Webster's method can't narrow down to a working divisor?
I've been poking around and without trying, managed to bump into some scenarios where Webster's method gives inconclusive results. The fact I managed it more than once without trying implies to me ...
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Weighted voting in the UN
Is any voting in the UN ever weighted against the population, contribution or consequences?
I understand that some countries have a better footing due to historical reasons. However, just to name some ...
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Has anyone published a plan for how to modernize the American voting system? [closed]
It’s been said that the American voting system is a relic of the past, with idiosyncratic features due to political negotiations and compromises at the time it was formed. Let’s say in a modern ...
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Condorcet loser criterion implying majority loser criterion [closed]
I know that it is perfectly clear that Condorcet loser criterion implies majority criterion. However, I am looking for a citable source that states this. Can anyone suggest something?
Thanks!
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Do Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Germany and Austria disallow the official registration of electoral alliances (instead of their constituent parties)?
It seems to me that minimum election thresholds in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Czechia, Poland, Latvia, and Israel function to reduce risk of political gridlock due to fragmentation (which can compound ...
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Are there election systems where voters cast a vote on the final composition of the legislature, rather than individual parties or candidates?
As an example, Germany is well known for having the problem of forming a coalition due to a large number of parties being elected to their legislative body. I imagine this can be frustrating to some ...
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Do any voting system models try to take "realistic" tactical voting into account?
In standard voting system models (see example), there are two types of voters: honest voters who always choose their preferred candidate(s) and tactical voters who try to maximize the expected weight ...
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What would it take to change the voting in the UK away from "first past the post"?
Question from a naive US citizen here: In a podcast from the BBC I heard it claimed that there are districts with a Tory representative elected with 1000 votes when the other parties (combined) had ...
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Plurality voting: Advantages?
Context:
I'm a 1st time voter in a plurality voting state. As part of deciding how I'm going to vote, I'm trying to know what is the intention of a state choosing plurality vote (I'm assuming they all ...
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Is there a version of IRV where eliminated candidates may come back if they gain enough votes?
In 2009 the Burlington mayoral election failed to elect the Condorcet winner while using IRV. Looking at the results table, there seems to be two simple modifications that could've changed the outcome:...
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Does Meek STV Incentivise Strategic Voting?
I have recently looked at the explanation of the Meek Single Transferable Vote method of elections, and it seems like it's a rather multi-step algorithm.
Now, a major reason for STV systems seems to ...
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UK alternative electoral system design
Background: I am seeking an alternative UK electoral system that would have multi-member constituencies instead of single member, which would create multi-party (proportional) governments. ...
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Is this variant of STV used anywhere else?
In the rules of a political party in my (U.S.) state, a procedure for intra-party elections in which multiple positions are to be filled is described which is clearly a variant of the single ...
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Any active wikidemocracy projects post-2019?
I have been reading about this form of electronic democracy called wikidemocracy. The article on wikipedia talks about attempts to implement Wikidemocracy in 2011, but it doesn't mention any modern ...
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What would be the political effects of the implementation of a Bhutan-like electoral system on a federal state? [closed]
Bhutan has a unique political system, in which elections to the National Assembly ( the lower house of the bicameral Bhutanese parliament ) happen in two rounds. In the first round, a nationwide vote ...
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Assigning fractional seats in a parliament
In proportional party-list voting systems, each party is entitled to a fraction of the seats in proportion to its vote count. This fraction is always rounded up or down according to some rule of "...
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Can this paradox happen in single transferable vote?
Suppose we conduct a single transferable vote election and everyone has given their ranked preference of candidates. If we use these votes to elect three candidates, we get candidates A, B, and C. If ...
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Is there a country where people votes don't equal one another based on their personal circumstances?
Sorry if this question is a bit harsh, but I am looking for any country (past or current) who implemented a system where people don't just have 1 equal vote each, a vote/point system that is based on ...
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Has an electoral ceiling ever been implemented or proposed?
The concept of electoral threshold is well established. What about the upper limit though? I mean a reduction of possible party/block power grasp to say 40% and transferring power to smaller players.
...
user39377
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What are the best choices of voting systems for a relatively small number of voters [closed]
Ranked choice with 4-5 options doesn't really seem to work / can be easily gamed with 4-5 voters. What options give the best way to ensuring more people are happy with the result?
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Who is the Condorcet winner of NYC's 2021 mayoral Democratic primary?
The 2021 mayoral primary in New York City was done using Instant Runoff Voting ("Ranked Choice Voting"). This system does not necessarily elect the Condorcet winner, if one exists. (The ...
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Why is tactical voting considered important given it seems to require such detailed information? [duplicate]
When voting systems are evaluated, tactical voting is considered a problem. I agree to the extent that an average voter has enough information to successfully tactically vote. For example, in a FPTP ...
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Why does ranked-choice voting give such high preference to the second choice of the least-favored candidate's voters?
Ranked choice voting is in the news lately because of the big mess New York City has made of implementing it in its Democratic primaries for the mayoral race. But in the talk about how it works, one ...
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New York's ranked choice voting, dealing with "a tie at the bottom"
I guess I have understood the mechanism of ranked choice voting, except for one detail: what happens if two candidates have exactly the same least number of first choices and the same exact numbers of ...
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How will New York City physically implement the ranked choice voting algorithm with thousands of unique mayoral votings possible?
Politico's New Yorkers pick a new mayor after chaotic, historic primary begins:
NEW YORK — Polls have closed in New York City’s first ever ranked-choice election and, while the die has been cast, ...
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Why do referendums use a binary choice rather than a numerical score?
In some democracies, citizens may be asked if they accept a law or the modification of a law in a "yes or no" referendum.
Most of the time, legal texts are complicated and specialized, so ...
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Is an "enlightened public" political system a form of democracy, or of technocracy/epistocracy?
I am not sure who originally came up with this idea, but in his book Against Democracy, Jason Brennan talks about a political system he calls "simulated oracle", or an "enlightened ...
user38391
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What is "satellite party" in South Korea?
I was reading about South Korean politics and I found the term "satellite party". Some article suggests that Platform Party is a satellite of Democratic Party and United Future Party has a ...
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