The act or process of choosing a person for a position, especially a public office, usually through a vote.
Wikipedia has lists of elections by year.
Questions tagged [election]
1022 questions
50
votes
6 answers
Why do oppressive regimes cheat in the election process rather than simply faking the results?
Why do so many authoritarian regimes bother with voter fraud and ballot stuffing? For example, after Hitler's annexation of Austria, intrusive propaganda and threats were used to make everybody vote for the Anschluss, but historians seem to think…
ithisa
- 603
- 5
- 8
28
votes
4 answers
Are there any countries with no elections at all?
I was browsing the Wikipedia article on Voting age and the following map struck me. The colours refer to different ages, full legend here:
Regardless of other restrictions (only men, only one party, etc.), this map seems to show every single…
gerrit
- 48,247
- 16
- 142
- 298
20
votes
4 answers
Has there been an election where the vote in foreign consulates decided the outcome?
In most national elections there is usually the option for voters to cast their ballot in foreign consulates. But as far as I can tell this is usually a mere formality as very few voters ever make use of that privilege and the "foreign" votes don't…
JonathanReez
- 50,757
- 35
- 237
- 435
16
votes
3 answers
What are the advantages/disadvantages of fixed-term elections?
Fixed-term elections are those whose date can not be set by politicians. The US presidential election is perhaps the most prominent example of this. There are also elections, such as that for the Australian House of Representatives, which have a…
lins314159
- 321
- 1
- 2
- 7
15
votes
4 answers
Recounting votes - isn't a recount just as prone to error as the initial count?
In elections, whenever there is a too close margin between the two winning candidates, there is the legal opportunity to initiate a recount in order to minimize possible errors. However isn't the following scenario likely?
Assume the first count…
scd
- 153
- 6
14
votes
6 answers
What if votes were open declarations?
Just hypothetically, what if an election involved the voting agency thoroughly compiling a registry of every citizen in the country and somehow trying to regularly confirm that they existed and were alive, and then having people publicly declare…
Julius Hamilton
- 2,569
- 1
- 8
- 30
12
votes
3 answers
Are there countries with upper age limits for voters or candidates?
After the US Presidential elections there have been some calls to introduce an upper age limit for their position. Similar opinions exist about the age of Senators, Congressmen and Supreme Court judges. Others have also called for the establishment…
JonathanReez
- 50,757
- 35
- 237
- 435
10
votes
2 answers
Are there elections where the second place candidate becomes eligible for a different position?
According to Article 2, clause 3 of the US Constitution (since replaced by the 12th Amendment):
In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President.
So the…
JonathanReez
- 50,757
- 35
- 237
- 435
8
votes
2 answers
Has any election to a national legislature had no candidate stand?
In the recent local elections in the UK one community in Wales had no candidate stand for election to the Powys council. It appears to be not uncommon for House races in the United States to be uncontested, but are there any examples of an election…
origimbo
- 21,139
- 2
- 54
- 78
7
votes
2 answers
For countries with a runoff system, how often does the second place candidate end up winning in the second round?
Countries such as France or Argentina have an election system where the top two candidates proceed to a final runoff round. Historically speaking and across all (or a large number of) such countries, how often does the candidate who came second in…
JonathanReez
- 50,757
- 35
- 237
- 435
7
votes
1 answer
How do democratic governments-in-exile, such as the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, choose their members of government?
Many governments-in-exile are relatively limited in time. For example, during World War II, occupied countries like The Netherlands had governments-in-exile. However, some exist for a long time. For example, the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic…
gerrit
- 48,247
- 16
- 142
- 298
6
votes
1 answer
Are there any countries that trigger elections upon request rather than schedule?
Forgive me if I'm naive of the election workings of other countries, I tried to find a good synopsis of vote schedule\triggers around the world, but had no success.
Here in America, our major national voting is on a standard schedule (4 for the…
JeopardyTempest
- 1,099
- 9
- 18
5
votes
2 answers
Has any politician/party ever conceded an election and then won?
Watching the Australian elections I notice that a lot of seats were won with small margins and the loser will often concede the election with less than 50% of the votes counted.
From what I have read a concession is not legally binding, but I can't…
mgh42
- 357
- 1
- 6
4
votes
2 answers
Where, if at all, do statistics exist breaking down votes by race in British general elections?
Wikipedia's page for the 2012 US Presidential election has this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2012#Voter_demographics which breaks down votes by, inter alia, the voters' ethnic origin.
If something similar exists…
Ne Mo
- 1,645
- 1
- 10
- 19
4
votes
2 answers
Why are voting advice applications not more commonly used?
In The Netherlands, at every national election, the stemwijzer is filled in by millions of people. The stemwijzer consists of a few dozen statements that can be answered varying from strongly disagree to strongly agree. All political parties answer…
gerrit
- 48,247
- 16
- 142
- 298