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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.

Wikipedia says

A voting system or electoral system consists of the set of rules which must be followed for a vote to be considered valid, and how votes are counted and aggregated to yield a final result. It is a method by which voters make a choice between candidates, often in an election or on a policy referendum.

Examples of voting systems include proportional-representation and first-past-the-post.

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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 it. In other words, you can cast a positive vote…
Ne Mo
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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/preferential systems. In Dr. Arrow's words, cardinal…
endolith
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Ranked voting by a committee when some members cannot vote for a particular candidate because of a conflict of interest

I'm in a 12-person committee where we have to rank 5 candidates whom we have interviewed for a position. Some members of the committee have a conflict of interest, so they had to leave the room when a particular candidate was interviewed and they…
Carlo Beenakker
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Is there a voting system to elect multiple candidates and ensure diversity within those elected?

Let's say I have a number of places that I need to fill with elected candidates. I would like people to be able to vote for the candidates using a system that does its best to end up with a diverse selection elected candidates based on a number of…
Dan
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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 limit on potential candidates per department. All…
POC
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Are there any electoral systems that give the runner up some office?

Originally, the US constitution specified that the runner up to the president in the electoral college becomes vice president, which would currently be Hillary Clinton instead of Mike Pence. This was abandoned in 1804 in favor of the current system…
Thomas
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Are there any studies that show impact of compulsory voting on outcomes?

Are there any studies that show impact of compulsory voting on outcomes? By outcomes, I mean (all other things being held equal), whether compulsory voting results in better HDI, or economic growth, or any other "well-being" measure that's reliably…
user4012
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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 candidates. You like two of them, feel ambivalent…
Kevin Krumwiede
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Why isn't approval voting used more often in elections?

Approval voting is a single-winner electoral system where each voter may select ("approve") any number of candidates. The winner is the most-approved candidate. On paper, approval voting seems like an excellent system: It is easy to explain You…
JonathanReez
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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. Ranked voting system have been proposed to…
gerrit
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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 candidate with a mention. The candidate with the highest…
SdaliM
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What is the most significant currently active organization using quadratic voting?

Is quadratic voting being significantly used anywhere in the world right now? Especially in any type of political system or social structure (beyond blockchains)?
Julius Hamilton
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Has an electoral ceiling ever been implemented or proposed?

The concept of electoral threshold is well established. What about the upper limit though? I mean a reduction of possible party/block power grasp to say 40% and transferring power to smaller players. Is this a known idea? Is there a trace of it in…
user39377
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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 could easily be applied as such: Film 1, Location…
AncientSwordRage
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Where does First Past The Post voting favour left wing parties?

Today's UK by-elections are set to demonstrate the effect of spoiler candidates on a First Past The Post ballot. In the UK it is pretty clear that First Past The Post (FPTP) benefits the right-wing Conservative party at the expense of the centrist…
Jontia
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