Questions tagged [voting]
To be used in relation to questions about the process in which a representative democracy elects its representatives, including how they are physically counted. Not to be used for questions about how the votes are scored, which are covered under the [voting-systems] tag.
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Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
According to a 1998 HRW report,
The United States may have the world’s most restrictive criminal disenfranchisement laws. We know of no other democracy besides the United States in which convicted ...
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Why is vote counting made so laborious in the US?
At the UK General Election in 2015, the constituency of Houghton & Sunderland South, declared its result in under 49 minutes, from close of polling.
Polling stations at UK parliamentary ...
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What challenges remain for online voting?
In 2011, nearly a quarter (24.3%) of participating voters in Estonia cast their ballot by remote electronic voting (that is, on their computer/phone/tablet via the Internet). Several larger countries,...
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Why am I being asked to vote?
I keep getting letters and postcards urging me to vote. It's not specifying why or for whom, just says "vote!"
I keep asking myself - why are they (who?) interested in people going to vote? ...
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Paying people not to vote at all
I have recently heard an idea from a local journalist that even surprised the moderator (greatly simplified):
Pay some amount for people that do NOT vote
Heuristically this should lead to better ...
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Why isn't Election Day a federal holiday in the US?
Inspired by this question
The United States has low levels of voter turnout as compared to other developed democracies. As seen in the above question, low-income individuals are less likely to vote ...
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What is the rationale behind making it illegal to hand out water to voters in line in Georgia?
From S.B. 202 (emphasis added):
No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, ...
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Why is it that an American in Timbuktu can vote for president but an American in San Juan cannot?
I was surprised to learn that Puerto Ricans, despite living in a US territory, were not entitled to vote in the presidential elections.
I was even more surprised to learn that US citizens are allowed ...
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What are the advantages/disadvantages of a mandatory voting system?
Living in a country where mandatory voting exists and experiencing the results in another without mandatory, I'm wondering:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory voting?
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Are there cases of Democrats engaging in voter suppression?
Modern Republicans are often accused of trying to suppress the right to vote for minorities.
Are there cases where the modern Democratic party (ie post Jim Crow) is accused of suppressing the right ...
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Why are "the rich" more able to identify the party which represent their interests than "the poor"?
Consider the following premises, for which I think there is fair degree of consensus (at least according to my knowledge of political history of Latin America, but perhaps more broadly):
the majority ...
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Can a polling station in the UK shut early if everyone has voted?
If everyone on the voting list for a polling station had been to vote and have been marked off on the list the polling clerks have, would the polling station shut early? Or would it remain open until ...
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Trump was behind on November 5th. Why was he calling for vote counting to stop?
This CNN article, and others, reported that Trump asked for vote counting to stop, and threatening legal action to do so.
I can (sort of) understand calls for a recount, but, if he was behind, what ...
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Ballot Secrecy - is it a Voter's Privilege or a Voter's Obligation?
Specifically with regard to the secrecy of a voter's own ballot, is that a voter's privilege or does a voter have an obligation to keep his ballot secret?
The various states have provided mechanisms ...
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If someone sends in an early vote, but then dies, is their vote counted?
This question was inspired by Donald Trump's claims about Hillary's supposed illegitimate votes, but is not about those claims.
Suppose I had cast my vote last year in an early ballot. Between then ...
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Is there objective proof that recent bills (1st half of 2021) that restrict voting are targeting Democratic voters specifically?
In 2016, Georgia and Arizona had 2 Republican senators. This year, in 2021, they both have 2 Democratic senators each. There are rumors that the GOP is trying to stop groups of people who are more ...
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Do compulsory voting systems allow blank votes or "none of the above" options?
I am wondering if compulsory voting systems allow for blank votes. By blank votes I mean an explicit act of choosing not to tick any option.
Wikipedia seems to mix blank vote with various types of ...
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How could people in Texas erroneously vote when they were ineligible?
There are people in Texas who were ineligible to vote but erroneously voted and therefore were jailed for voter fraud:
You’re right, there are really strict punitive criminal measures to try to ...
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Will we know after the election how many people are denied a vote because of the new ID rules?
In the UK on Thursday 4 May 2023, local elections are taking place across England. To vote at a polling station, you will need to bring photo ID. This is a new law introduced by the current ...
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Why would voting for a US House Speaker candidate from a majority party be "taboo" and punishable if you're a member of a minority party?
If I'm a US House representative and a member of the numerical minority party, and the majority party is struggling to get consensus on a candidate for House Speaker that I find particularly ...
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Is it possible to implement an electronic voting system which is as secure as pen-and-paper voting?
There is ongoing criticism of voting machines, due to the ease of manipulating the outcome of a vote that is counted digitally. I have heard the opinion that every computer-implemented voting ...
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How do I know that my vote was counted?
Can American citizens verify that their vote was tallied correctly in the public/published results that determine an election?
More generally, do there exist any systems that can simultaneously ...
user6374
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Why don't all States switch to all postal voting?
Currently four states: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington run all their elections exclusively by mail. This seems to have the significant advantage of allowing people to vote at any time they ...
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Why are candidates expected to win their home state?
In coverage of primaries and elections I often hear it stated that candidates are expected to win their home states, or that it is embarrassing not to. I've seen this assertion here, such as in Has a ...
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Why is the AP calling Virginia in favor of Biden even though he's behind on the vote count?
What other determinants are they using to make the call?
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What is the motivation for felony disenfranchisement?
Felony disenfranchisement is to take away someone's right to vote during or after this person is in prison. It appears particularly common in the United States.
What is the aim of such a rule? Is ...
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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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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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Has "none of the above" ever been added to a ballot? What was the effect?
Besides, Nevada, in United States, having the option to vote none of the above (NOTA) are there any other places in the world that allow for voters to tick NOTA?
If this is the case, are there any ...
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Why are many college towns so Democratic?
I have been looking at college towns. I took a picture of their average precinct in the 2020 presidential election. University of Michigan average precinct:
These college towns are recording ...
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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 is the difference between nullifying your vote and not going to vote at all?
When there are multiple parties to vote with (let's say A, and B), what difference does it make when one nullifies their vote compared with another person that does not vote at all?
I heard some ...
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Why can't voting be fair if there are more than two alternatives?
I've heard that mathematically it can be shown that given any voting system with more than two choices, voters can cheat the system by not voting their true opinions in order to game the system and ...
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What is Israel's long-term plan in the West Bank?
A lot of liberals and other Palestine supporters make the following argument about Israel's control of the West Bank: Currently, the Palestinian people living in the Israeli-controlled territory in ...
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Why would people protest the Puerto Rico statehood referendum by boycotting?
I was confused by the logic of the Puerto Rico boycott of the statehood referendum. While it's true that 97% voted for statehood, that represents a paltry 23% of the residents in total
From the NY ...
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Is candidate anonymity at all practical?
We are all aware voting is largely biased. Of course, it would be attractive to reduce that bias as much as possible because greater policy-based voting allows laws and regulations to better reflect ...
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Can homeless people vote?
Can a homeless person vote in a United States election, assuming they are a citizen? I suppose one barrier would be that they don't technically have a "residence", so it's not clear what their polling ...
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Are there any specific reasons why President Trump has suggested that his supporters illegally vote twice in North Carolina?
Recently, the current United States President suggested that people in North Carolina vote twice in the upcoming election: once by postal vote and once in person. Apparently there are measures in ...
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How do Republicans explain consistently losing the popular vote in presidential elections since 1992?
I was wondering about how the Republican Party has only won the popular vote once in three decades in a presidential election. Seven out of eight presidential popular votes were won by Democrats. This ...
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As a voter in a democratic country, how can I influence a single issue?
If I am a regular citizen in a democratic country, I exercise my political power by voting (somehow) for regional leaders and the national leader. If I agree with all the positions of a particular ...
user45152
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Which US states give proportional Presidential electoral college votes to candidates?
The US Presidential election uses an "electoral college" system, where each state gets a certain number of "electors" (votes), and those electors cast the official votes for President. Each state's ...
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Was the Texas Photo ID voting law implemented to decrease voting fraud? If so, how effective is it?
First, the Photo ID Voting Law was put in place because states wished to decrease voting fraud, right? If not, please explain to me why it was implemented. I think I did well enough research but there'...
user12893
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Does voting really matter as a Democrat living in a solidly Republican state?
I am a Democrat living in a solidly Republican state. I have tried to research this, but I only get the standard opinion that I should vote no matter what. Same with people I talk to.
Is there any ...
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Is there a higher incidence of electoral fraud in states that use all-mail voting?
Currently Oregon, Washington and Colorado use all-mail voting, with Hawaii set to join them in 2020. Is there a higher incidence of election fraud in these States compared to US States that lack no-...
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Why don't Democrat or Republican partisans register and vote in swing states?
Since swing states are often the deciding factor in US presidential elections, why don't Democrat or Republican partisans register and vote in swing states? Or perhaps they are already doing so and it'...
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What legal impediments might there be to alternate voting systems?
Most jurisdictions in the US use first-past-the-post voting. This appears to me to be a historical artifact; I'm not aware of any legal impediments on a federal level that would prevent states or ...
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Traditionally, and currently, what stops human vote counters from altering ballots to make them 'Spoilt / Invalid votes?
Traditionally, and currently, what stops human vote counters from altering ballots to make them 'Spoilt / Invalid votes' ?
Referring to - Spoilt vote / Invalid vote
So if a theoretically dishonest ...
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Would mail-in voting disproportionately help Republicans?
I would expect that restricting voting to mail-in votes would result in larger proportions of older, more established voters voting compared to younger, less organized voters, some of whom do not even ...
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What are the reasons for the date of Election Day?
As far as I can tell, the date of Election Day in the US was set in 1845:
the electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed in
each State on the Tuesday next after the first Monday ...
CDJB♦
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Why isn't mail-in voting allowed in France?
AP news states flatly that:
Mail-in voting isn’t allowed in France.
What's the usual reason invoked by French politicians in making this prohibition?
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