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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Voting system with two votes as a defense against fear of voting for a loser - is it anywhere in the world?
In some countries there is a big fear among voters of voting for a party that doesn't end up in the parliament because they didn't reach the minimum threshold of votes, making their votes go in vain. ...
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Electing fewer group representatives than groups when the whole electorate votes on them
At my work we need to elect three representatives among four separate departments.
There is a max of one representative per department.
Any member of a department can run as a candidate.
There is no ...
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How does Alba's "list only" strategy work in Scottish Elections?
The Wikipedia section on the Election method for the 2021 Scottish Parliment describes the set up as;
The Scottish Parliament uses an Additional Members System, designed to produce approximate ...
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In open-list voting systems, how do political parties ensure their leaders (and key figures) get elected?
In open-list voting systems, voters are free to select any candidate they prefer on the party list.
The number of votes each candidate receives determines their rank within the list, and the higher ...
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How did Alaska "change its primary system recently" and was it "to dilute the possibility of a conservative or Trump-inspired challenger"?
Politico's GOP pushes Murkowski to stay in line against Biden’s Covid bill includes the following:
Murkowski is unique, however, and so is her home of Alaska. The state is suffering economically, the ...
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Is there an election System that allows for seats to be empty?
Is there an election System that allows for potential seats to be empty?
E.g if there are 7 seats that could potentially be filled but the people voting only want 5 to be filled.
For context: We are ...
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Name of a voting system where you can transfer your vote to anyone at any time
I remember reading about a theoretical electoral system where votes are passed on in a continuously changing graph. I would like to know the name or origin of this system.
This is my approximate ...
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Why doesn't the UK Labour Party push for proportional representation?
There is a consistent majority for liberal (progressive) parties in the UK, but they regularly cannibalise each other in the first-past-the-post voting system (see Wikipedia for details). The last ...
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Is there an operating political system in which an election can be invalidated because of a too little participation?
I don't know enough about the many election systems throughout the world, but what I often see is that the abstention rate is at best an indicator (of something), if it's taken into account at all.
I ...
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What states used voting equipment by Dominion Voting Systems for the 2020 election (if any)?
I heard about that "Dominion" system of electronic voting.
Did any states use it during the 2020 election? And if so, which exactly?
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Could blockchain voting bring both secrecy and traceability to elections? [closed]
This was raised in a comment in another thread and a user:
It's not impossible, especially not with the kind of technology we have today. When you cast a vote, you could be given a randomly generated ...
anon
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Is it possible to vote multiple times in a US presidential election i.e. in more than one state?
It has been reported that the Trump campaign has announced a Nevada lawsuit over non-resident voters alleging inter alia that a significant number of Nevada voters were resident outside the state, and ...
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With a single transferable vote, how are the transfers selected?
With a single transferable vote, when a candidate's votes exceed the quota, the remaining votes are transferred to the next ranking candidate on each of the excess ballots.
However, how is it decided ...
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What are the fundamental reasons for indirect presidential vote in the US?
I am French and therefore have understandably a hard time understanding the cultural aspects of indirect voting in the United States. I read the history of this approach and some of the main technical ...
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What are the main arguments by proponents of the American two party system? [duplicate]
Q: What are the main arguments by proponents of the American two party system as opposed to a multi-party system in other federated countries like for example Germany?
Note: The answers in the ...
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How would national ranked voting or approval voting (cumulative voting?) affect US elections? [duplicate]
The first-past-the-post voting system that is primarily used in the USA has resulted in a two party system with a very large number of voters practicing tactical voting. This has caused some voters to ...
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What US states allow voting from space?
Answers to How do US citizens vote in space? tell us that this is possible and outline the history, and that the state of Texas has specific provisions since most US astronauts active in trips to ...
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How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation?
For a hypothetical world, how can I build a political system in which:
People are represented by someone local to them. And:
The number of representatives elected representing a movement in total ...
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Does stronger geographic representation lead to stronger regional identities?
Are there any studies which would conclude whether stronger geographic representation in voting systems is a significant contributor to strong regional identities in a country?
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What are the actual mechanics of counting rank-choice (instant-runoff) votes?
I've been volunteering at my City Clerk's office as a poll worker working on preparing to count votes on vote-by-mail and early-voting ballots.
Our work is governed by very specific procedures (as it ...
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When voting for US president are signatures always compared by a volunteer to previous signature on record? Is there any training for this?
updates:
Politico 2020-10-23 Pennsylvania Supreme Court says ballots can’t be rejected based on signature comparisons
Los Angeles Times 2020-10-28 ‘Ripe for error’: Ballot signature verification is ...
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Is it important to know the final vote count (tally) of an election very soon after Election day?
I realize that political parties and their candidates would like to know what the vote count is as soon as possible after the polls close. But I'm also aware that vote count is not finalized for at ...
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Would an online voting system using a secure id be more subject to coercion than the current mail in ballot system?
A system which allows each voter to audit his vote in the final result via a unique ID has been suggested. The arguments against seem centered around the secrecy issue and coercion.
For example, a ...
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What is this voting system called?
Each person gets the same fixed number of points, and they can allocate the points to each candidate however they prefer, as long as the sum of points allocated equals the number of points given. The ...
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Is there any new evidence that mail-in balloting is "fraudulent in many cases"?
Donald Trump (4/7/2020):"Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, because they're cheaters. They're fraudulent in many cases."NPR and others
I'm looking for actual numbers, How many ...
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Have any countries used blockchain voting in elections?
Have any countries used blockchain voting in national or local elections?
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Validating your US vote was counted accurately [duplicate]
Every time I go to vote and do my American civil duty, I've always wondered if my vote is being counted accurately.
Question: Is there any method in the United States of America for a voting citizen ...
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In a PR/STV system, is there any point in voting for a candidate I don't like to fight against one I like even less?
There's an upcoming election which features a particular candidate whose politics I have a problem with. Not only do I not want them to get in but I don't even want them to feel good or encouraged by ...
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How many seats did the anti-hard Brexit parties lose in the 2019 general elections due to the spoiler effect?
Are there any calculations available that evaluate the following scenarios?
How would the elections end up under a proportional voting system?
or
How many seats did the spoiler effect (the ...
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How should a representative vote if they were elected under D'Hondt?
As I understand it, an elected representative is autonomous, and may vote in the legislature as they see fit - even if their opinion differs from the popular opinion of their constituents (as opposed ...
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Does the USA have a proportional or majoritarian voting system?
I know that in each state the voting system is first-past-the-post, a majoritarian method, but I believe that the federal aggregation, for both the president and the Congress, is approximately ...
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How frequently is the winner of the election not the person/party that received the most votes?
Most modern democracies select the government somewhat indirectly.
The UK votes in 650 (currently, the number changes over time) separate constituencies each selecting a single MP by a first past ...
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What happens next with the UK review of parliamentary constituency boundaries?
With all the focus on Brexit, everyone has gone very quiet about the proposed reduction in the number of Commons seats to 600 and the long-overdue implementation of boundary changes to even out the ...
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Could a (maybe new) voting system, where people would be able to decide their personal supportee at any given moment work? [closed]
I just got a voting system idea (which might or might not be an already existing system) after watching two videos about voting. [1] [2]
Disclaimer: The question(s) will be at the end, but the main ...
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What would it take to change first past the post voting?
I found this question and this question but they don't quite answer my curiosity. I'm wondering about what official changes would have to be made to laws/procedures, rather than how people should go ...
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Is the Random Ballot method really strategy-free?
In the Random Ballot voting method, every voter writes down their favorite candidate, the ballots are shuffled, one is drawn, and whoever is on that ballot is the winner.
This is said to be a ...
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Selecting committees using the single transferable vote
Let's say we are electing a single district of twenty representatives using the single transferable vote. This is an unusually large district, but that's what it is.
We would also like to select five ...
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Election reform [duplicate]
Why can't Canadians elect their government by designating their tax dollars to Party X or Party Y etc.
The Party with the most revenue is the ruling Party the next down the line would be coalition ...
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Where are electoral systems typically defined?
Italy changed its electoral law in 2017, with a simple majority vote in the parliament. It strikes me as peculiar and dangerous that it is relatively easy for the ruling party to change "the rules of ...
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Would switching to a proportionate House require a constitutional amendment?
A hopefully not-too-long not-too-short background
The bicameral legislature of the USA occurred as an early compromise among its founding fathers, between those who believed in individual ownership ...
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Why is the majority bonus systems so rarely used across the world?
According to Wikipedia the majority bonus system is used only by a few countries:
Armenia
San Marino
Italy
Argentina (Chamber of Deputies of the Province of Santa Fe and the Province of Entre Ríos ...
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Why did a party with more votes get fewer seats in the 2019 European Parliament election in Denmark?
The official result of the 2019 European Parliament election in Denmark is:
Parti Antal Pct. Mandater
A. Socialdemokratiet 592.645 21,5% 3
B. ...
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Are there influential theories why the Lib Dems have survived on the UK political landscape?
Generally a first-past the post FPTP electoral system favors a two-party system, aka Duverger's law.
In the UK however, the Lib Dems have managed to survive for (approximately) a century the ...
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How many extra votes does a party receive by being number 1 on the senate ticket in Australia
There is an understanding that if a party is number 1 on the senate ticket they will pick up extra votes from people who aren't serious and just number from the left. Has this been studied and if so ...
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What drawbacks are there in preferential voting? [duplicate]
I recently discovered that Australia uses the preferential voting system. It looks like a great system, so great that I do not see any immediate drawbacks.
What are they?
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What is the point of Germany's 299 "party seats" in the Bundestag?
This question about Bundestag elections (How does the German Bundestag election system work?) does a good job at summarising Bundestag elections. Long story short: 299 directly-elected candidate from ...
user26415
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Is the single plurality system the same as the winner take all system?
Is the single plurality system the same as the winner take all system? I've heard both terms, and they sound the same. Are they?
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Has negative voting ever been officially implemented in elections, or seriously proposed, or even studied?
I struggled to name what I'm asking about here. I'm talking about the kind of voting that happens on many websites, including stackexchange: you can upvote something (a question), or you can downvote ...
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Do freedom-of-information laws increase corruption?
That's the general conclusion of a 2007 study:
It has been argued that greater transparency is needed to reduce corruption. One way of
increasing transparency is through the adoption of Freedom ...
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What would the process look like for adopting Ranked Choice (in particular, instant-runoff) Voting in the US?
I'm not asking to discuss whether Ranked Choice is a good system, or the particulars of how it would be implemented with regards to our electoral college system, or even whether people would choose ...
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