Condorcet methods
47-638: Bristol South East was a constituency in the city of Bristol that returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . The constituency was created for the 1950 general election , mainly from the Bristol East constituency , and abolished for the 1983 general election which saw the reintroduction of Bristol East. In boundary changes for
94-540: A write-in candidate . This is a general example for single-winner plurality voting ("first-past-the-post"), using population percentages taken from one state for illustrative purposes. [REDACTED] Suppose that Tennessee is holding an election on the location of its capital . The population is concentrated around four major cities. All voters want the capital to be as close to them as possible. The options are: The preferences of each region's voters are: If each voter in each city naively selects one city on
141-409: A form of runoff. In single-winner plurality voting ( first-past-the-post ), each voter is allowed to vote for only one candidate, and the winner of the election is the candidate who represents a plurality of voters or, in other words, received more votes than any other candidate. In an election for a single seat, such as for president in a presidential system , voters may vote for one candidate from
188-402: A history of repeatedly electing candidates of a certain party, many districts are known to have safe seats . On such, a candidate or party has a near 100% chance that they win the seats. Supporters of others sometimes do not even bother to vote knowing of the odds that face their candidate. Alternative electoral systems, such as proportional representation , attempt to ensure that almost all of
235-560: A large excess of votes. This is because like other plurality systems, STNV does not transfer loser and surplus votes. Another way to count wasted votes, is to see the ones that may play no part in determining the outcome. Under FPTP for example, usually only votes for the top two candidates can be seen as really competing for the position, with only one possible to win; votes placed on other candidates are almost certain not to be used to elect anyone and therefore wasted. Sometimes not even two candidate are seen as being competitive. Due to having
282-446: A list of the candidates who are competing, and the winner is whichever candidate receives the highest number of votes. Compare first-past-the-post to a majority system, the two-round system , where usually the top two candidates in the first ballot progress to the second round, also called the runoff. A runoff is by default not held, if a candidate already received an absolute majority in the first ballot (more than half of votes), and in
329-645: A multi-seat district is known as single non-transferable voting . Plurality voting is widely used throughout the English-speaking world as a result of its spread by the British Empire , including in most of the United States. Outside of the English-speaking world, it is less popular than its close relatives in the runoff family of methods . Overall, more countries in the world use a form of proportional representation than use plurality or
376-665: A reduction of 13 seats. Primary legislation provides for the independence of the boundary commissions for each of the four parts of the UK, the number of seats for each of the countries, permissible factors to use in departing from any old boundaries, and a strong duty to consult. The Fifth Review was governed by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act of 1986 . Under the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 , as amended by
423-468: A single candidate, even if they have multiple votes to cast. Party A has about 35% support among the electorate (with one particularly well-liked candidate), Party B around 25% (with two well-liked candidates) and the remaining voters primarily support independent candidates, but mostly lean towards party B if they have to choose between the two parties. All voters vote sincerely ; there is no tactical voting. (Percentage of votes under MNTV and Limited Voting
470-713: A sixth of Scotland, to the densely-populated London constituency of Islington North . As of the 2024 election there are 543 constituencies in England, 32 in Wales, 57 in Scotland and 18 in Northern Ireland. The "Region" of the table refers to the NUTS 1 statistical region of England , which coincides with the former European Parliament constituency in which the constituency was included until 31 January 2020. Following
517-411: A very low chance of winning their constituency vote for their lesser preferred candidate who has a higher chance of winning. The minority party will then simply take votes away from one of the major parties, which could change the outcome and gain nothing for the voters. Any other party will typically need to build up its votes and credibility over a series of elections before it is seen as electable. In
SECTION 10
#1732791680498564-414: Is elected. There are several versions of plurality voting for multi-member district. The system that elects multiple winners at once with the plurality rule and where each voter casts multiple X votes in a multi-seat district is referred to as plurality block voting . A semi-proportional system that elects multiple winners elected at once with the plurality rule and where each voter casts just one vote in
611-414: Is in practice similar in plurality block voting. They both operate under the "winner-takes-all" principle, which means that the party of the losing candidates in each district receive no representation, regardless of the number of votes they receive. Even the single non-transferable vote can result in very inefficient results if many candidates with small support compete or the most-popular candidates receive
658-564: Is no smaller than 69,724 and no larger than 77,062. The exceptions to this rule are five 'protected' constituencies for island areas: Orkney and Shetland , Na h-Eileanan an Iar , Ynys Mon , and two constituencies on the Isle of Wight . These consequently have smaller electorates than the lower limit for other constituencies. As the number of electors in each constituency is similar, the constituencies themselves vary considerably in area, ranging in 2019 from Ross, Skye and Lochaber , which occupies
705-549: Is practically unavoidable, but plurality systems suffer from large numbers of wasted votes. For example, in the UK general election of 2005 , 52% of votes were cast for losing candidates and 18% were excess votes, a total of 70% wasted votes. That is perhaps the most fundamental criticism of FPTP, the single-member plurality system, since at least half the votes are always wasted in a district, either as being placed on un-elected candidates or being surplus to what could be needed to win. SMP
752-435: Is the percentage of voters who voted for the candidate, not the percentage of votes cast.) Under all three versions of multi-winner plurality voting, the three most popular candidates according to voters' first preferences are elected, regardless of party affiliation, but with three different results. Wasted votes are those cast for candidates or parties who did not get elected. Some number of wasted votes by this definition
799-546: The 2010 general election after proposals made by the boundary commissions for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies ) were adopted through statutory instruments . Constituencies in Scotland remained unchanged, as the Boundary Commission for Scotland had completed a review just before the 2005 general election , which had resulted in
846-870: The Green Party , who, exit polls indicated, would have preferred Gore at 45% to Bush at 27%, with the rest not voting in Nader's absence. That thinking is illustrated by elections in Puerto Rico and its three principal voter groups: the Independentistas (pro-independence), the Populares (pro- commonwealth ), and the Estadistas (pro- statehood ). Historically, there has been a tendency for Independentista voters to elect Popular candidates and policies. This results in more Popular victories even though
893-581: The Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 , the number of MPs is now fixed at 650. The Sainte-Laguë formula method is used to form groups of seats split between the four parts of the United Kingdom and the English regions (as defined by the NUTS 1 statistical regions of England ). The table below gives the number of eligible voters broken down by constituent country, including the average constituency size in each country. As of 2023, every recommended constituency must have an electorate as at 2 March 2020 that
940-497: The Tennessee example , if all the voters for Chattanooga and Knoxville had instead voted for Nashville, Nashville would have won (with 58% of the vote). That would have only been the third choice for those voters, but voting for their respective first choices (their own cities) actually results in their fourth choice (Memphis) being elected. The difficulty is sometimes summed up in an extreme form, as "All votes for anyone other than
987-444: The single non-transferable vote . While seemingly most similar to first-past-the-post , in effect it is a semi-proportional system allowing for mixed representation in one district, and representation of both majority parties and electoral minorities within a district. When voters can vote for one or more candidates, but in total less than the number of winners, it is called limited voting . The multi-winner version considered to be
SECTION 20
#17327916804981034-685: The Estadistas have the most voters on the island. It is so widely recognised that the Puerto Ricans sometimes call the Independentistas who vote for the Populares "melons" in reference to the party colours, because the fruit is green on the outside but red on the inside. Such tactical voting can cause significant perturbation to the system: Proponents of other single-winner electoral systems argue that their proposals would reduce
1081-516: The February 1974 general election, part of the constituency's territory was transferred to the new seat of Kingswood . Sir Stafford Cripps won the seat comfortably from holding its main predecessor in 1950 and continued in government with the new seat for just over six months (he was at the time Chancellor of the Exchequer ) before resigning from Parliament for health reasons. The final MP for
1128-549: The United Kingdom currently has 650 parliamentary constituencies across the constituent countries ( England , Scotland , Wales , and Northern Ireland ), each electing a single member of parliament (MP) to the House of Commons by the plurality ( first-past-the-post ) voting system, ordinarily every five years. Voting last took place in all 650 of those constituencies at the United Kingdom general election on 4 July 2024 . The number of seats rose from 646 to 650 at
1175-986: The Urban District of Kingswood. 1974–1983 : The County Borough of Bristol wards of Brislington, Knowle, St George East, St George West, Stockwood, and Windmill Hill. Tony Benn was declared ineligible to sit in the House of Commons due to him having inherited a peerage, and Malcolm St. Clair was declared elected instead. List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The Parliament of
1222-893: The abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the Boundary Commissions formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021 and published their final proposals on 28 June 2023. See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies (2024–present) by region for further details. Plurality voting Positional voting Cardinal voting Quota-remainder methods Approval-based committees Fractional social choice Semi-proportional representation By ballot type Pathological response Strategic voting Paradoxes of majority rule Positive results Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which
1269-430: The ballot (Memphis voters select Memphis, Nashville voters select Nashville, and so on), Memphis will be selected, as it has the most votes 42%. The system does not require that the winner have a majority , only a plurality. Memphis wins because it has the most votes even though 58% of the voters in the example preferred Memphis least. The opposite result would occur in instant-runoff , where Knoxville (the city furthest to
1316-401: The candidate with the most votes) is also used in approval voting , however with very different effects, as voters can choose to support as many or few candidates as they choose, not just one. For this reason, approval voting is usually distinguished from plurality voting, while technically being a sub-type of it. Multi-member plurality elections are only slightly more complicated. Where n is
1363-410: The candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality ) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member districts , plurality voting is called single member [district] plurality (SMP), which is widely known as " first-past-the-post ". In SMP/FPTP the leading candidate, whether or not they have a majority of votes,
1410-426: The candidates who are competing to represent that district. Under the plurality system, the winner of the election then becomes the representative of the whole electoral district and serves with representatives of other electoral districts. That makes plurality voting among the simplest of all electoral systems for voters and vote counting officials; however, the drawing of district boundary lines can be contentious in
1457-652: The constituency was Tony Benn who served as Secretary of State (for Industry from 1974 to 1975 then as Secretary of State For Energy from 1975 to 1979), in the latter role, the UK saw the Winter of Discontent and power shortages. Benn ran in the near-overlapping successor seat, Bristol East in 1983 and was defeated by Conservative candidate Jonathan Sayeed . 1950–1955 : The County Borough of Bristol wards of Brislington, Hengrove, St George East, and St George West. 1955–1974 : The County Borough of Bristol wards of Brislington, St George East, St George West, and Stockwood, and
Bristol South East (UK Parliament constituency) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1504-432: The east, and the "second-worst" choice) would accumulate a majority from vote transfers from voter who initially voted for Chattanooga and Nashville. Nashville is the majority-preferred winner , and as a result would be elected by any Condorcet method . Candidates are running in a 3-member district of 10 000 voters. Under non-transferable (and non-cumulative) plurality voting, each voter may cast no more than one vote for
1551-415: The extension of first-past-the-post to multi-winner cases is plurality block voting . Here voters may vote for as many candidates as there are seats to fill, which means usually candidates from the largest party will fill all the seats in the district. The party-list version of plurality voting in multi-member districts is called party block voting . Here the party receiving a plurality of votes wins all of
1598-500: The need for tactical voting and reduce the spoiler effect . Other systems include the commonly used two-round system of runoffs and instant-runoff voting , along with less-tested and perhaps less-understood systems such as approval voting , score voting and Condorcet methods . This is when a voter decides to vote in a way that does not represent their true preference or choice, motivated by an intent to influence election outcomes. Strategic behaviour by voters can and does influence
1645-515: The next election, it can create a number of constituencies in each of which O has an overwhelming majority of votes. O will win these seats, but many of its voters will waste their votes. Then, the rest of the constituencies are designed to have small majorities for G. Few G votes are wasted, and G will win many seats by small margins. As a result of the gerrymander, O's seats have cost it more votes than G's seats. Efficiency gap : The efficiency gap measures gerrymandering and has been scrutinized in
1692-404: The number of seats in the district, the n candidates who get more votes than the others are elected; the winners are the n candidates with the highest numbers of votes. The rules may allow the voter to vote for one candidate, for a number of candidates more than one but less than n , for as many as n candidates, or some other number. When voters may vote for only one candidate, it is called
1739-457: The outcome of an FPTP election. The presence of spoilers often gives rise to suspicions that manipulation of the slate has taken place. The spoiler may have received incentives to run. A spoiler may also drop out at the last moment, which induces charges that such an act was intended from the beginning. Voters who are uninformed do not have a comparable opportunity to manipulate their votes as voters who understand all opposing sides, understand
1786-556: The outcome of very close votes to be swayed for the wrong reason. This might have had an impact on the 2000 United States election that was essentially decided by fewer than 600 votes, with the winner being President Bush . When voters behave in a strategic way and expect others to do the same, they end up voting for one of the two leading candidates, making the Condorcet alternative more likely to be elected. The prevalence of strategic voting in an election makes it difficult to evaluate
1833-442: The outcome of voting in different plurality voting systems. Strategic behaviour is when a voter casts their vote for a different party or alternative district/constituency/riding in order to induce, in their opinion, a better outcome. An example of this is when a person really likes party A but votes for party B because they do not like party C or D or because they believe that party A has little to no chance of winning. This can cause
1880-417: The plurality system (see gerrymandering ). The system is also independent of parties; the party with the most votes overall may not win the most seats overall ( electoral inversion ). Note that issues arising from single-member districts are still in place with majority voting systems, like the two-round system and instant-runoff voting too. The same principle used in single-winner plurality voting (electing
1927-422: The pros and cons of voting for each party. Because FPTP permits a high level of wasted votes, an election under FPTP is easily gerrymandered unless safeguards are in place. In gerrymandering , a party in power deliberately manipulates constituency boundaries to increase the number of seats that it wins unfairly. In brief, if a governing party G wishes to reduce the seats that will be won by opposition party O in
Bristol South East (UK Parliament constituency) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1974-404: The seats available by default. Generally, plurality ballots can be categorized into two forms. The simplest form is a blank ballot in which the name of a candidate(s) is written in by hand. A more structured ballot will list all the candidates and allow a mark to be made next to the name of a single candidate (or more than one, in some cases); however, a structured ballot can also include space for
2021-399: The second ballot, where there are only two candidates, one of the candidates will (except for a tie) receive a majority. Under plurality rules, the candidates are not at any point in the election required to have majority support. In an election for a legislative body with single-member seats, each voter in a geographically defined electoral district may vote for one candidate from a list of
2068-399: The second place are votes for the winner". That is because by voting for other candidates, voters have denied those votes to the second-place candidate, who could have won had they received them. It is often claimed by United States Democrats that Democrat Al Gore lost the 2000 Presidential Election to Republican George W. Bush because some voters on the left voted for Ralph Nader of
2115-522: The true political state of the population, as their true political ideologies are not reflected in their votes. The spoiler effect is especially severe in plurality voting, where candidates with similar ideologies are forced to split the vote with each other. One spoiler candidate's presence in the election draws votes from a major candidate with similar politics, which causes a strong opponent of both or several to win. Even extremely small parties with very little first-preference support can therefore affect
2162-403: The two candidates most likely to win, even if their true preference is neither of them; because a vote for any other candidate is unlikely to lead to the preferred candidate being elected. In single-member plurality, this will instead reduce support for one of the two major candidates whom the voter might prefer to the other. Electors who prefer not to waste their vote by voting for a candidate with
2209-422: The votes are effective in influencing the result and electing a representative, which minimizes vote wastage. Such systems decreases disproportionality in election results and are also credited for increasing voter turnout. To a much greater extent than many other electoral methods, plurality electoral systems encourage tactical voting techniques like "compromising". Voters are under pressure to vote for one of
#497502