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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Vote weighting based on fiscal contribution [duplicate]
Does any political system in the world have electoral vote weighting based on the voter's fiscal contribution? The premise being that the taxes paid are a reasonable approximation of merit and value ...
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What methods are available to resolve elections with an equal number of votes
On the BBC Wales news feed today for the local elections it was reported that in three separate councils had candidates with an equal number of votes after a recount - so they drew lots (pulled ...
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Why are there so many voting systems used in UK elections?
Today, I went to vote in elections to select a regional mayor for the first time. Local government elections in the UK, like elections for Parliament, use the first past the post system. I was thus ...
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Why hasn't Estonia discontinued e-voting?
According to EstoniaVoting:
Estonia is the only country in the world that relies on Internet
voting in a significant way for legally-binding national elections —
up to 25% of voters cast their ...
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Why does the French election have a runoff election instead of preferential voting
In the recent French election, there will now be another vote between Macron and La Pen to determine a winner. A lot of other countries seem to have this system. Elections are not cheap and having ...
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Why are there exceptions to Duverger's Law?
Duverger's law states that in a first past the post electoral system, the system will end up with a two party system.
However, many countries with first past the post electoral systems (such as India,...
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Is this a good way to count Single Transferable Vote ballots?
I've been asked by my employer to create an online voting system for internal elections (e.g. board of directors). Our bylaws dictate that we need to use STV.
I wasn't satisfied with the existing ...
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How are gender quotas justified by lawmakers given that they appear to violate the Equal Opportunity Principle?
According to this document (page 12):
Table 1 indicates that, of the 30 EU/EEA countries, five – Belgium,
France, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain – have introduced quotas by law
that are binding ...
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Do black people in America really face tougher consequences for the same crime committed by a white person?
I heard about this new "political" Snoop Dog video and the lyrics having a personal meaning to Snoop Doggy Dog where according to a USA TODAY interview with him:
In an interview with Billboard, ...
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Does anywhere apply ranked voting for party-list proportional presentation?
A first-past-the-post election can have a spoiler effect, where people vote strategically for one of the larger parties because their actually preferred party has only a very small chance of winning. ...
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Why is Schulze the most popular Condorcet election method?
It's been my impression that when people are discussing "Condorcet voting", they often implicitly mean the Schulze/beatpath method.
Wikipedia's "Use of Condorcet voting" list also seems to be ...
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Are there any organizations or political movements in the US that promote Borda Count Ranked Voting?
After researching Borda Count Ranked Voting I realized that this voting system is something that I really support. I then researched organizations, political movements, and influential politicians ...
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Why is Instant Runoff Voting the accepted form of ranked voting?
I was reading over this question and was wondering why Maine and the other municipalities that adopted ranked voting use instant runoff voting. After reading the phrase ranked voting I assumed that ...
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What are the advantages of the French two-round voting system against a one round alternative?
In regards to the French Presidential election of 2017, what are the advantages of the French two-round voting system against a one round alternative?
If two-round is better than one round, what ...
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What are the pros and cons of only voting for first choice in SE moderator elections?
As a reminder, StackExchange moderator elections are modified STV.
Is there a benefit, or a downside, for picking only the first of 3 choices when voting in a site election?
In which situations ...
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What electoral mechanisms might prevent the rise of a demagogue?
I realize that this may be one of the intentions of the US Electoral College system. Its most obvious role is to prevent a candidate of purely local appeal from winning nationally, but another de-...
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What arguments are there against ranked-choice voting?
In America, most elections are based on first-past-the-post voting, where whoever gets a plurality of the votes wins. For instance if candidate A gets 40% of the vote and each of candidates B and C ...
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How does the Majority Judgment voting system fare?
Following this question on the Gibbard-Satterthwaite (GB) theorem, I was wondering how the Majority Judgment (MJ) voting system fits in.
Quick summary of how the MJ works: you attribute each ...
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Why there are no modern examples of governments (rather than parliaments) allocated proportionally?
It is relatively common to elect a legislature through proportional representation. A party or a coalition of parties then forms a government.
Why there is no modern example of governments being ...
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How does STAR Voting compare with plain Score Voting?
I've been reading a lot about voting systems, and Score Voting seems like a pretty good system, but Equal Vote Coalition advocates STAR Voting (= "Score Then Automatic Runoff", previously SRV = "Score ...
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Why is First past the post used in so many countries?
First past the post is used in the vast majority of countries, despite its numerous crippling flaws. Such countries include: Canada, USA, Bangladesh, India, Jamaica, Kuwait, Liberia, Mexico, Pakistan, ...
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Does Gibbard–Satterthwaite theorem apply to all voting systems?
People often say "It's been mathematically proven that no perfect voting system is possible" and cite Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, but Arrow's theorem specifically only applies to ranked/...
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Do "majority criterion" voting systems always result in "center-squeeze" effect?
In voting systems that meet the majority criterion, "if one candidate is preferred by a majority (more than 50%) of voters, then that candidate must win".
The "center-squeeze" effect is when a voting ...
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Is it possible to use blockchain or public ledgers for voting?
As a software developer, I routinely get asked this question and frequently see it being asked online too; it seemed like a great question to pose for the wonderful StackExchange community.
For a ...
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What level of laws/rules is FPTP mandated by?
United States has a First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system.
But what specifically mandates it as far as laws/rules?
US Constitution? Specific individual states' rules? Party rules?
Related to ...
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Are all popular votes counted even when one candidate has an insurmountable lead?
Much has been made of the recent election since Clinton seems to have won the "popular vote" while Trump won the vote for the electoral college.
I wonder, though, if this is actually true or if we ...
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Is there any chance results for the 2016 US presidential election have been tampered with? [closed]
Given the pre-election climate of hacking and cyber espionage against the DNC, along with the DHS warning of active hacking attempts on state election systems and their recommendation to bolster cyber ...
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Did anyone run IRV models/simulations on 2016 US election?
With all the conversations about theoretical voting models; and all the conversations about actual 2016 elections, I got to wondering:
Did anyone do any work (make a realistic polling model, run a ...
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Voting strategy when you can vote for multiple candidates?
What is the best voting strategy when you're allowed to vote for multiple candidates, and the candidates with the most votes win? For example, say there's a race where you may vote for up to three ...
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Why can't we vote against a candidate in an election?
As a U.S. citizen I can walk into a polling place in a few weeks and vote for whoever I desire. I have done this in several past elections. However, in every case I did not want the person I voted ...
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Trump: voter fraud is a big problem in the US which nobody has the guts to talk about [closed]
A few days ago, Trump talked about voter fraud and called it a big problem in the US which nobody has the guts to talk about.
What do US people think about the issue (poll results)?
What are the (...
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What voting system is used (in the majority of states) for the US presidential (electoral) vote?
Having done a bit of a search, I already know that on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, voters of the US may cast a vote (using a system specific to their state), which, when ...
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In Single Transferable Vote elections, how bad is it to have a lot of wasted votes and 1+ candidates with low keep factors?
I'm using OpenSTV's terminology for (Meek) single transferable voting, if it matters: "keep factor" is the percentage of votes for a winning candidate that are necessary to elect them (the remaining ...
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Voting methods other than single-vote plurality in the USA?
The single-non-transferrable plurality-winner voting method commonly used in the United States, and the spoiler effect that can produce, helps cement a two-party system that many people (including ...
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Are voting options with lots of minor differences prone to being skewed?
Say you're holding a ranked-choice poll with lots of options that can be grouped in multiple ways, does this skew results in any way, or open it up to abuse?
My example is non-political, but this ...
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What would it take to do away with the caucus system?
I went to my first caucus this spring and it was very enlightening. I am of the belief that our candidates are being chosen by the "fringe" people in each party.There were plenty of good citizens ...
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Name of voting system where candidates rank other candidates?
There is a voting system that I read about that is very similar to Instant-runoff Voting; except that every participating candidate must also rank all other candidates.
This way the voter can still ...
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How do you count the tie-breaking votes? [closed]
For example, there are 24 candidates for senator and only 12 will be declared as the winner.
Example:
...*(other already won candidates)
9) Candidate A - 5 (already won)
10) Candidate B - 5 (...
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Voting methods that take voters stability into account
Consider the case of Brexit: a relatively brief moment of voting time that decided the state of UK in EU. One shot.
Is this a good idea? Let's consider these factors:
Voter stability: were voters ...
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Are file hashes used in voting machines? [closed]
In computer science file hashes are a great way to determine if an electronic file has been tampered with.
Do voting machines software used in the USA use file hashes in any way to determine if the ...
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Is it possible to change the superdelegates' votes?
For example, is it possible for voters (or anyone else) to change the democrats superdelegates' votes? In the current race, it seems like Sanders and Clinton are quite close, and the superdelegates ...
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Can a candidate for US president un-suspend their campaign?
When candidates for US president drop out of the race, they "suspend" their campaign. The fact that they use that word makes me wonder if they can un-suspend it if they wished to?
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How can a primary's winner be declared with 0% reporting?
The Maryland primary was today. I just did a Google and I'm seeing that Clinton and Trump have been declared winners with 0% reporting.
How is that possible? I understand projections but at this ...
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What are the problems of IQ tests for elections? [closed]
Let's define for the purposes of this hypothesis that
A good person is someone who act and votes according to his best intentions
A smart person is someone who know which party to elect to lead his ...
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Is single transferable vote an adaptation of instant runoff voting for multiple winners?
Is Single Transferable Vote system an exact adaptation of the Instant Runoff Voting system designed to select multiple winners?
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Condorcet method for two seats
Condorcet method is an election system where voters rate their candidates in order of preference. As an example, for candidates A B and C, a valid vote can be [A > B > C], [C > B > A], [B > A > C] etc....
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Why isn't a Condorcet method used?
A Condorcet method is an election system where voters rate their candidates in order of preference. As an example, for candidates A B and C, a valid vote can be [A > B > C], [C > B > A], [B > A > C] ...
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How do the Iowa caucuses differ from other elections in voter behavior?
The Iowa caucuses are of course different than other primaries and elections. Democratic ballots are not secret. However, the time costs are greater. A lot of research on voter participation mentions ...
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How does offering two almost identical options in a Preferential Voting system affect the outcome?
New Zealand recently voted on a potential new design for their flag. The question was:
"If the New Zealand flag changes, which flag would you prefer?"
The five options were chosen by a government ...
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What is "The Post" in "First Past The Post" voting?
In First Past The Post voting:
Voters put a cross on a ballot paper next to their favoured candidate and the candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins. – electoral-reform.org.uk
What ...
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