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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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 ...
user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Should the right to vote and/or be voted for be restricted to the educated in the information era? [closed]

To me it seems only logical to expect in the information era some duties behind the rights to vote and being voted for, such as having a minimum of education, regardless whether you were given the ...
Yuri Borges's user avatar
27 votes
2 answers
4k views

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 ...
Keshav Srinivasan's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
687 views

What steps need to happen for the alternative vote to be implemented?

The alternative vote seems like an excellent replacement for the first-past the post voting system. Per the answers on this question, I understand some of the reasons of why it hasn't been implemented ...
n00b's user avatar
  • 253
75 votes
12 answers
6k views

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,...
Merbs's user avatar
  • 939
23 votes
3 answers
55k views

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 ...
user1873's user avatar
  • 14k
22 votes
1 answer
2k views

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-...
JonathanReez's user avatar
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100 votes
17 answers
30k views

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 ...
the gods from engineering's user avatar
46 votes
8 answers
68k views

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?
Sven Clement's user avatar
  • 5,383
31 votes
8 answers
3k views

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 ...
clstaudt's user avatar
  • 413
22 votes
9 answers
16k views

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 ...
Kristan Paige's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
2k views

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's user avatar
  • 106k
10 votes
2 answers
1k views

Does it really make a difference when more people vote?

We tend to say that "everybody should vote, no matter what". And of course, democracy cannot work if nobody votes. But as long as enough people vote, does it make a difference when the number of ...
JonasVautherin's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
333 views

Issue-Specific Knowledge Tests For Voting

I have often wondered if it would be worthwhile for ballots to verify that voters understand the issues they are voting on, and whether this could be achieved objectively. Case in point: I had a ...
maurice's user avatar
  • 153
27 votes
6 answers
3k views

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 ...
gerrit's user avatar
  • 48.2k
26 votes
5 answers
8k views

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?
NZ_21's user avatar
  • 372
26 votes
4 answers
8k views

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 ...
WilliamKF's user avatar
  • 1,547
19 votes
5 answers
2k views

What was the largest popular vote election ever held?

What was the largest popular vote election ever held for a personally-held position? This means an election for an elected position, with people directly voting for the choice of candidates (e.g. US ...
user4012's user avatar
  • 92.3k
18 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is there any mechanism in USA to prevent someone from voting by mail AND in person?

Theoretically speaking, there are mechanisms that prevent someone from voting twice (you are only allocated to vote to one polling place based on your residence address, and that polling place has a ...
user4012's user avatar
  • 92.3k
17 votes
3 answers
2k views

How did the US end up so evenly split?

When looking at the popular vote for 2016, about 49% to 51%, and the current numbers for 2020, it's astonishing how close it is — how evenly the country is divided. Surely this is unexpected and ...
Luke Sawczak's user avatar
17 votes
3 answers
21k views

Can the US call for a re-vote?

In the US, would it be possible for a re-vote for the President to be called for if, for example, it was highly suspected or confirmed that the first vote's results were rigged?
LinLit's user avatar
  • 317
17 votes
11 answers
3k views

What are some arguments for why a "license to vote" is a bad idea?

I conversed with someone the other day who said that just like we study and take tests to obtain a driver's license, we should similarly study and pass tests to get a voters' license. She said that ...
Fariao's user avatar
  • 179
16 votes
3 answers
801 views

Why are there such long waits to vote in the US?

Early voting has started in the US Presidential elections and one article that caught my eye today was regarding the waiting times to vote. AOC criticises ‘unacceptable’ lines at New York polling ...
Jontia's user avatar
  • 24.1k
16 votes
3 answers
2k views

How do states without Voter ID laws ensure that people are who they say they are?

In the United States, requiring voters to show photo-ID is very controversial. Many claim that it is discriminatory. In states where requiring photo ID is not allowed, how do election officials ...
Daniel's user avatar
  • 767
15 votes
4 answers
7k views

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, ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 16.5k
12 votes
2 answers
768 views

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 ...
robert bristow-johnson's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
409 views

Precincts where Trump got <1% of the vote in 2016?

I read an article about Trump's historically bad performance in the capitol city of the US. I saw that there were at least two precincts where he did EXTREMELY badly. There were two precincts that I ...
Number File's user avatar
  • 12.1k
7 votes
1 answer
557 views

Are there any practical difficulties with switching to alternative voting systems in the US? [duplicate]

For the purposes of this question, I'll focus on the STV alternative voting system. America uses a First Past the Post system along with its Electoral College to decide the President. However, in ...
naiveai's user avatar
  • 173
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

What's the purpose of a closed primary?

To vote in the Democratic primaries for New York State, I had to register in the Democratic party. Why would a political party hold a closed primary?
JesseTG's user avatar
  • 1,617
85 votes
8 answers
11k views

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 ...
WS2's user avatar
  • 10.7k
70 votes
14 answers
14k views

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? ...
Kirill Yunussov's user avatar
44 votes
7 answers
14k views

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 ...
tim's user avatar
  • 37k
31 votes
3 answers
6k views

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 ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 16.5k
30 votes
4 answers
6k views

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 ...
Nicholas's user avatar
  • 546
30 votes
7 answers
9k views

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 ...
JonathanReez's user avatar
  • 51.9k
26 votes
2 answers
7k views

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 ...
Thunderforge's user avatar
  • 7,697
26 votes
3 answers
6k views

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 ...
Machavity's user avatar
  • 48.3k
26 votes
17 answers
2k views

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 ...
Luke Briggs's user avatar
22 votes
4 answers
5k views

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'...
user avatar
21 votes
4 answers
669 views

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 ...
Stephen Collings's user avatar
20 votes
3 answers
5k views

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 ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
  • 5,134
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

What election rules and voting rights are guaranteed by the US Constitution?

Following the recent US Supreme Court decision that gerrymandering for political purposes is not prohibited by the US Constitution, I realized that it can be hard to understand what rules related to ...
StayOnTarget's user avatar
  • 2,401
19 votes
7 answers
7k views

What has divided US politics so severely since Bill Clinton's election?

I recently saw this article by the New York Times' Upshot showing that last 50 years of electoral college results from the presidential elections. Something that stand out is how drastically voting ...
Saja's user avatar
  • 355
18 votes
8 answers
2k views

Is there any reason to vote against the predominant majority?

Let us take the example of voting in a U.S. presidential election. If one lives in a blue state for which the outcome of the vote is known to always favor the Democratic candidate, is there any reason ...
jake's user avatar
  • 289
18 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why do Republicans oppose the Voting Rights Advancement Act?

On December 6th, The House of Representatives passed HR4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which updates the 1965 Voting Rights Act in light of the 2013 Supreme Court ruling which invalidated ...
divibisan's user avatar
  • 25.9k
15 votes
10 answers
2k views

Has there ever been a national meritocracy?

Has there ever been a meritocracy at the scale of a nation? By meritocracy I mean a system of government in which the citizen's vote is weighted based upon the merit of the individual casting that ...
Chris Mueller's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
739 views

Why are there so few polling sites in New York?

Early voting is open in many places, including New York City. The New York Times reports long lines at the polling stations with waiting times of several hours, sometimes deterring voters. It reports ...
Peter - Reinstate Monica's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
593 views

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 ...
endolith's user avatar
  • 3,553
14 votes
1 answer
239 views

How do instant runoffs work?

I've read that some elections have instant runoffs. What are they and how do they work? How do they differ from a standard majority vote election?
segiddins's user avatar
  • 403
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the benefit of electronic voting machines (as opposed to paper ballots)?

Quite a few countries (notably the USA) use electronic voting machines for casting ballots during elections. Coming from Germany, where electronic voting machines are not used, I wonder why they are ...
sleske's user avatar
  • 2,291