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Voting systems are methods of choosing between different options. They are most commonly used in elections, but are also used for many other purposes: to award prizes, to select between different plans of action, or even by computer programs to evaluate which solution is best for a complex problem.
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Considerations in making a good voting system
It is impossible for any one system to be "perfect", because some of the considerations in what makes a voting system good are contradictory. For example, if one candidate is intensely popular among most people and intensely unpopular among the rest, are they better or worse than a candidate universally accepted unenthusiastically? Different voting systems draw the lines in different places. These are some of the considerations many people take into account when evaluating a voting system:
- Proportionality
- Potential for Tactical Voting
- Acceptability of choice
- Popularity of choice
- Simplicity
Systems
Most voting systems fall under one of the following categories, or are a hybrid of two or more categories:
- Borda count
- Plurality voting
- Range voting
- Single transfer voting
- Runoff voting
- Instant Runoff Voting (also called Alternative Vote)
- Party-list proportional representation
- Approval voting
- Condorcet's Method
- Cumulative voting
None of the Above
In all of these systems, there is a choice about whether to include an option to vote against filling the seat. This is implemented in different systems, sometimes by erecting a threshold which winning candidates must pass, sometimes by entering a theoretical "None of the above" candidate into the running.
External Links
- http://www.fairvote.org (Center for Voting and Democracy)
- ODP Category on Voting Systems