Group decision-making (also known as collaborative decision-making or collective decision-making ) is a situation faced when individuals collectively make a choice from the alternatives before them. The decision is then no longer attributable to any single individual who is a member of the group. This is because all the individuals and social group processes such as social influence contribute to the outcome. The decisions made by groups are often different from those made by individuals. In workplace settings, collaborative decision-making is one of the most successful models to generate buy-in from other stakeholders, build consensus, and encourage creativity. According to the idea of synergy , decisions made collectively also tend to be more effective than decisions made by a single individual. In this vein, certain collaborative arrangements have the potential to generate better net performance outcomes than individuals acting on their own. Under normal everyday conditions, collaborative or group decision-making would often be preferred and would generate more benefits than individual decision-making when there is the time for proper deliberation, discussion, and dialogue. This can be achieved through the use of committee, teams, groups, partnerships, or other collaborative social processes.
93-423: An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office . Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature , sometimes in the executive and judiciary , and for regional and local government . This process
186-437: A Condorcet method ; these methods are also gaining popularity for lesser elections in some countries where more important elections still use more traditional counting methods. While openness and accountability are usually considered cornerstones of a democratic system, the act of casting a vote and the content of a voter's ballot are usually an important exception. The secret ballot is a relatively modern development, but it
279-668: A Director of Social Services . The right of Commonwealth and Irish citizens to vote is a legacy of the Representation of the People Act 1918 , which limited the vote to British subjects. At that time, "British subjects" included the people of Ireland — then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland — and all other parts of the British Empire . Though most of Ireland (see Ireland Act 1949 ) and
372-572: A direct democracy , one type of non-partisan democracy , any eligible person can be nominated. Although elections were used in ancient Athens, in Rome, and in the selection of popes and Holy Roman emperors, the origins of elections in the contemporary world lie in the gradual emergence of representative government in Europe and North America beginning in the 17th century. In some systems no nominations take place at all, with voters free to choose any person at
465-461: A motion of no-confidence ). This calculation depends on a number of variables, such as its performance in opinion polls and the size of its majority. Rolling elections are elections in which all representatives in a body are elected, but these elections are spread over a period of time rather than all at once. Examples are the presidential primaries in the United States , Elections to
558-493: A Crown Servant declaration, allowing them to vote in all UK elections. An individual can register as an anonymous elector if his/her safety (or that of any other person in the same household) would be at risk were his/her name and address to be disclosed publicly on the Electoral Register, but the application needs to be supported by a relevant court order, injunction or an attestation by a chief police officer or
651-463: A Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are:
744-444: A decision produces positive results, people are more likely to make decisions in similar ways in similar situations. On the other hand, people tend to avoid repeating the same mistakes, because future decisions based on past experience are not necessarily the best decisions. Cognitive bias is a phenomenon in which people often distort their perceived results due to their own or situational reasons when they perceive themselves, others or
837-403: A first time offender failing to vote is a $ 20.00 fine, which increases to $ 50.00 if the offender refused to vote prior. Historically the size of eligible voters, the electorate, was small having the size of groups or communities of privileged men like aristocrats and men of a city ( citizens ). With the growth of the number of people with bourgeois citizen rights outside of cities, expanding
930-407: A greater capacity to process this information. However, they also present a number of liabilities to decision-making, such as requiring more time to make choices and by consequence rushing to a low-quality agreement in order to be timely. Some issues are also so simple that a group decision-making process leads to too many cooks in the kitchen: for such trivial issues, having a group make the decision
1023-450: A group are flawed, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion , the incident on which the groupthink model of group decision-making is based. Factors that impact other social group behaviours also affect group decisions. For example, groups high in cohesion , in combination with other antecedent conditions (e.g. ideological homogeneity and insulation from dissenting opinions) have been noted to have
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#17327654765811116-916: A group can fall victim to when engaging in decision-making: The misuse, abuse and/or inappropriate use of information, including: Overlooking useful information. This can include: Relying too heavily on heuristics that over-simplify complex decisions. This can include: Elections in the United Kingdom 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 There are five types of elections in
1209-427: A mechanism for selecting rulers. On the other hand, elections began to be seen as a way for the masses to express popular consent repeatedly, resulting in the triumph of the electoral process until the present day. This conceptual misunderstanding of elections as open and egalitarian when they are not innately so may thus be a root cause of the problems in contemporary governance . Those in favor of this view argue that
1302-417: A negative effect on group decision-making and hence on group effectiveness. Moreover, when individuals make decisions as part of a group, there is a tendency to exhibit a bias towards discussing shared information (i.e. shared information bias ), as opposed to unshared information. The social identity approach suggests a more general approach to group decision-making than the popular groupthink model, which
1395-495: A positive impact on society. Decision-making in groups is sometimes examined separately as process and outcome. Process refers to the group interactions. Some relevant ideas include coalitions among participants as well as influence and persuasion. The use of politics is often judged negatively, but it is a useful way to approach problems when preferences among actors are in conflict, when dependencies exist that cannot be avoided, when there are no super-ordinate authorities, and when
1488-499: A return to sortition-based selection mechanisms. The extent to which sortition should be the dominant mode of selecting rulers or instead be hybridised with electoral representation remains a topic of debate. Group decision-making However, in some cases, there can also be drawbacks to this method. In extreme emergencies or crisis situations, other forms of decision-making might be preferable as emergency actions may need to be taken more quickly with less time for deliberation. On
1581-414: A single group decision. There are a number of these schemes, but the following are the most common: There are strengths and weaknesses to each of these social decision schemes. Delegation saves time and is a good method for less important decisions, but ignored members might react negatively. Averaging responses will cancel out extreme opinions, but the final decision might disappoint many members. Plurality
1674-418: A university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) may be able to register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the same electoral area (though an elector can only vote once in any single election or referendum). In addition, to qualify to appear on the Electoral Register, applicants who are Commonwealth citizens must either possess leave to enter or remain in
1767-401: A variety of political, organizational, and corporate settings. Many countries hold elections to select people to serve in their governments, but other types of organizations hold elections as well. For example, many corporations hold elections among shareholders to select a board of directors , and these elections may be mandated by corporate law . In many places, an election to the government
1860-404: Is a narrow look at situations where group and other decision-making is flawed. Social identity analysis suggests that the changes which occur during collective decision-making are part of rational psychological processes which build on the essence of the group in ways that are psychologically efficient, grounded in the social reality experienced by members of the group, and have the potential to have
1953-549: Is a variety of schedules, for example, presidents: the President of Ireland is elected every seven years, the President of Russia and the President of Finland every six years, the President of France every five years, President of the United States every four years. Predetermined or fixed election dates have the advantage of fairness and predictability. They tend to greatly lengthen campaigns, and make dissolving
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#17327654765812046-533: Is also used in many other private and business organisations, from clubs to voluntary associations and corporations . The global use of elections as a tool for selecting representatives in modern representative democracies is in contrast with the practice in the democratic archetype , ancient Athens , where the elections were considered an oligarchic institution and most political offices were filled using sortition , also known as allotment, by which officeholders were chosen by lot. Electoral reform describes
2139-407: Is an election that is held purely for show; that is, without any significant political choice or real impact on the results of the election. Sham elections are a common event in dictatorial regimes that feel the need to feign the appearance of public legitimacy . Published results usually show nearly 100% voter turnout and high support (typically at least 80%, and close to 100% in many cases) for
2232-459: Is common for political scientists to attempt to predict elections via political forecasting methods. The most expensive election campaign included US$ 7 billion spent on the 2012 United States presidential election and is followed by the US$ 5 billion spent on the 2014 Indian general election . The nature of democracy is that elected officials are accountable to the people, and they must return to
2325-557: Is essential for autonomous robots and for different forms of active decision support for industrial operators, designers and managers. Due to the large number of considerations involved in many decisions, computer-based decision support systems (DSS) have been developed to assist decision-makers in considering the implications of various courses of thinking. They can help reduce the risk of human errors . DSSs which try to realize some human- cognitive decision-making functions are called Intelligent Decision Support Systems (IDSS). On
2418-470: Is interference from the incumbent government. Dictators may use the powers of the executive (police, martial law, censorship, physical implementation of the election mechanism, etc.) to remain in power despite popular opinion in favour of removal. Members of a particular faction in a legislature may use the power of the majority or supermajority (passing criminal laws, and defining the electoral mechanisms including eligibility and district boundaries) to prevent
2511-435: Is made, or to situations where decisions made are inconsistent with one another over time. Sometimes, groups may have established and clearly defined standards for making decisions, such as bylaws and statutes. However, it is often the case that the decision-making process is less formal, and might even be implicitly accepted. Social decision schemes are the methods used by a group to combine individual responses to come up with
2604-411: Is now considered crucial in most free and fair elections, as it limits the effectiveness of intimidation. When elections are called, politicians and their supporters attempt to influence policy by competing directly for the votes of constituents in what are called campaigns. Supporters for a campaign can be either formally organized or loosely affiliated, and frequently utilize campaign advertising . It
2697-431: Is overkill and can lead to failure. Because groups offer both advantages and disadvantages in making decisions, Victor Vroom developed a normative model of decision-making that suggests different decision-making methods should be selected depending on the situation. In this model, Vroom identified five different decision-making processes. The idea of using computerized support systems is discussed by James Reason under
2790-622: Is the most consistent scheme when superior decisions are being made, and it involves the least amount of effort. Voting, however, may lead to members feeling alienated when they lose a close vote, or to internal politics, or to conformity to other opinions. Consensus schemes involve members more deeply, and tend to lead to high levels of commitment. But, it might be difficult for the group to reach such decisions. Groups have many advantages and disadvantages when making decisions. Groups, by definition, are composed of two or more people, and for this reason naturally have access to more information and have
2883-431: Is usually a competition among people who have already won a primary election within a political party . Elections within corporations and other organizations often use procedures and rules that are similar to those of governmental elections. The question of who may vote is a central issue in elections. The electorate does not generally include the entire population; for example, many countries prohibit those who are under
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2976-572: The 1995 and 2002 presidential referendums in Saddam Hussein's Iraq . In Mexico , all of the presidential elections from 1929 to 1982 are considered to be sham elections, as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its predecessors governed the country in a de facto single-party system without serious opposition, and they won all of the presidential elections in that period with more than 70% of
3069-661: The 2014 Crimean status referendum , as well as the 2014 Donbass status referendums and the 2022 annexation referendum in Russian-occupied Ukraine ), the 2018 and 2024 Venezuelan presidential election , the 1928 , 1935 , 1942 , 1949 , 1951 and 1958 elections in Portugal, those in Indonesia during New Order regime, the 1991 and 2019 Kazakh presidential elections , those in North Korea ,
3162-554: The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland . Knowingly giving false information to an electoral registration officer anywhere in the UK is an offence with a maximum penalty, upon conviction, of £5,000 and/or six months' imprisonment. Each district council or unitary authority has an Electoral Register which is compiled by the electoral registration officer listing all registered electors. The Electoral Register contains
3255-567: The Ephors of Sparta in 754 BC, under the mixed government of the Spartan Constitution . Athenian democratic elections, where all citizens could hold public office, were not introduced for another 247 years, until the reforms of Cleisthenes . Under the earlier Solonian Constitution ( c. 574 BC ), all Athenian citizens were eligible to vote in the popular assemblies, on matters of law and policy, and as jurors, but only
3348-404: The United Kingdom can register as an overseas voter provided that they were on the Electoral Register in the UK within the previous 15 years. The 15-year period begins when they no longer appeared in the electoral register, not the date they moved abroad. British citizens who moved abroad before they turned 18 years old can still qualify for registration, with the 15-years period calculated from
3441-583: The United States . Elections were used as early in history as ancient Greece and ancient Rome , and throughout the Medieval period to select rulers such as the Holy Roman Emperor (see imperial election ) and the pope (see papal election ). The Pala King Gopala (ruled c. 750s – 770s CE) in early medieval Bengal was elected by a group of feudal chieftains. Such elections were quite common in contemporary societies of
3534-541: The electoral registration officer (except in Northern Ireland , where the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland assumes both responsibilities). The Electoral Commission sets standards for and issues guidelines to returning officers and electoral registration officers , and is responsible for nationwide electoral administration (such as the registration of political parties and directing the administration of national referendums). The total number of names in
3627-404: The electoral registration officer . The officer adds them to a list of applications (unless they are applications to register as an anonymous elector ). The list is open for inspection for five working days, during which any other elector may raise an objection to an application. The electoral registration officer can initiate an application hearing if there are reasonable integrity concerns about
3720-490: The rolling registration procedure applies instead. Applications must be submitted individually (unlike the annual canvass forms where one person is responsible for registering all eligible people in a household) using registration forms available from local electoral registration officers or the Electoral Commission's website . Although no proof of identity or address is necessary when submitting an application,
3813-412: The single member plurality system ( first-past-the-post ), the multi-member plurality , the single transferable vote , the additional member system , and the supplementary vote . Elections are administered locally: in each lower-tier local authority , the polling procedure is operated by the returning officer or acting returning officer, and the compiling and maintenance of the electoral roll by
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3906-474: The whole of Cyprus ), can apply to the electoral registration officer in the local authority area where they reside with a 'considerable degree of permanence' to be listed in that area's Electoral Register. In Scotland and Wales , those fulfilling the nationality requirements (as stated in the previous paragraph), or who otherwise hold leave to remain (limited or indefinite) in the UK, who will be aged 16 or over on polling day can register to vote, as
3999-484: The 18th century, some societies in Western Europe used sortition as a means to select rulers, a method which allowed regular citizens to exercise power, in keeping with understandings of democracy at the time. The idea of what constituted a legitimate government shifted in the 18th century to include consent , especially with the rise of the enlightenment . From this point onward, sortition fell out of favor as
4092-664: The European Parliament (where, due to differing election laws in each member state, elections are held on different days of the same week) and, due to logistics, general elections in Lebanon and India . The voting procedure in the Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic are also a classical example. In rolling elections, voters have information about previous voters' choices. While in
4185-597: The Government's Digital By Default policy , voters in England and Wales can register to the electoral roll online. Special category electors do not register through the annual canvass procedure. Instead, they submit applications at any time during the year and have to renew their electoral application periodically (every one year for overseas electors and voters with a declaration of local connection and every three years for service voters). Applications are received by
4278-438: The UK or not require such leave on the date of their application and no applicant may be a convicted person detained in prison or a mental hospital (or unlawfully at large if they would otherwise have been detained) or a person found guilty of certain corrupt or illegal practices . In Northern Ireland , from 1949 until 2014, a minimum of three months’ residency in the territory was required for registration. This requirement
4371-523: The United Kingdom : elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (commonly called 'general elections' when all seats are contested), elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections . Elections are held on Election Day , which is conventionally
4464-552: The United Kingdom appearing in Electoral Registers published on 1 December 2010 and based on a qualifying date of 15 October 2010 was 45,844,691. In England , anyone who will be aged 18 or over on polling day and who is a national of the United Kingdom (all forms of British nationality but excluding British protected persons ), the Republic of Ireland , a Commonwealth country (including Fiji , Zimbabwe and
4557-553: The United States . At the same time the Kingdom of Great Britain had in 1780 about 214,000 eligible voters, 3% of the whole population. Naturalization can reshape the electorate of a country. A representative democracy requires a procedure to govern nomination for political office. In many cases, nomination for office is mediated through preselection processes in organized political parties. Non-partisan systems tend to be different from partisan systems as concerns nominations. In
4650-1048: The United States interfering between 1946 and 2000 in 81 elections and Russia or the Soviet Union in 36. In 2018 the most intense interventions, utilizing false information, were by China in Taiwan and by Russia in Latvia ; the next highest levels were in Bahrain, Qatar and Hungary. This can include falsifying voter instructions, violation of the secret ballot , ballot stuffing , tampering with voting machines, destruction of legitimately cast ballots, voter suppression , voter registration fraud, failure to validate voter residency, fraudulent tabulation of results, and use of physical force or verbal intimation at polling places. Other examples include persuading candidates not to run, such as through blackmailing, bribery, intimidation or physical violence. A sham election , or show election ,
4743-607: The age for voting in the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd respectively, and local elections in both countries is 16. However, voters in Scotland and Wales under 18 are not entitled to vote in UK general elections. A person can still register at their ordinary address if they will be away temporarily (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital). A person who has two homes (such as
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#17327654765814836-402: The age of majority from voting. All jurisdictions require a minimum age for voting. In Australia, Aboriginal people were not given the right to vote until 1962 (see 1967 referendum entry ) and in 2010 the federal government removed the rights of prisoners serving for three years or more to vote (a large proportion of whom were Aboriginal Australians). Suffrage is typically only for citizens of
4929-457: The application. In Northern Ireland , there is no annual canvass, and instead people register individually at any time during the year. Applicants must supply their National Insurance number or, if they do not have one, make a declaration to that effect. Proof of identity, address, three months' residency in NI and date of birth must also be included with applications, which are submitted by post to
5022-571: The balance of power in the body from shifting to a rival faction due to an election. Non-governmental entities can also interfere with elections, through physical force, verbal intimidation, or fraud, which can result in improper casting or counting of votes. Monitoring for and minimizing electoral fraud is also an ongoing task in countries with strong traditions of free and fair elections. Problems that prevent an election from being "free and fair" take various forms. The electorate may be poorly informed about issues or candidates due to lack of freedom of
5115-412: The costs (barriers to entry) associated with raising one's political profile. Ultimately, the result is the election of candidates who are superior (whether in actuality or as perceived within a cultural context) and objectively unlike the voters they are supposed to represent. Evidence suggests that the concept of electing representatives was originally conceived to be different from democracy . Prior to
5208-469: The country, though further limits may be imposed. In the European Union, one can vote in municipal elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen; the nationality of the country of residence is not required. In some countries, voting is required by law. Eligible voters may be subject to punitive measures such as a fine for not casting a vote. In Western Australia, the penalty for
5301-487: The course of the annual canvass , which electoral registration officers are obliged to conduct every year between August and November. Canvass forms are sent to all households, and must be returned, otherwise a fine of £1000 can be imposed. One person in the household must confirm the details of all residents who are existing electors, which includes adding or deleting residents who have moved in or out and are eligible to register to vote. Between December and early August,
5394-495: The date their parent(s)/guardian ceased to appear in the Electoral Register. Overseas voters can only vote in UK parliamentary elections in the constituency of their last registered UK address (or for those who moved abroad as a minor, the last registered UK address of their parent(s)/guardian). British citizens who are away overseas temporarily do not need to register as overseas electors and can register to vote at their UK address. The right for overseas voters to vote in UK elections
5487-420: The elected delegates). Electoral systems are the detailed constitutional arrangements and voting systems that convert the vote into a political decision. The first step is for voters to cast the ballots , which may be simple single-choice ballots, but other types, such as multiple choice or ranked ballots may also be used. Then the votes are tallied, for which various vote counting systems may be used. and
5580-410: The election to prevent them from running. Ballots may contain only one "yes" option, or in the case of a simple "yes or no" question, security forces often persecute people who pick "no", thus encouraging them to pick the "yes" option. In other cases, those who vote receive stamps in their passport for doing so, while those who did not vote (and thus do not receive stamps) are persecuted as enemies of
5673-420: The electoral registration officer can require the applicant to provide further information regarding the applicant's age, nationality, residence and whether or not they are disqualified and/or evidence to prove the applicant's age and/or nationality. Application forms can be returned to the local electoral registration officer by post, by fax or by e-mail as a scanned attachment. As of June 2014, as part of
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#17327654765815766-410: The external environment. in the decision-making process, cognitive bias influences people by making them over-dependent or giving more trust to expected observations and prior knowledge, while discarding information or observations that are considered uncertain, rather than focusing on more factors. The prospects are broad. Groups have greater informational and motivational resources, and therefore have
5859-476: The first elections, there may be plenty of hopeful candidates, in the last rounds consensus on one winner is generally achieved. In today's context of rapid communication, candidates can put disproportionate resources into competing strongly in the first few stages, because those stages affect the reaction of latter stages. In many of the countries with weak rule of law , the most common reason why elections do not meet international standards of being "free and fair"
5952-542: The group it may prevent others from contributing meaningfully. It is also the case that groups sometimes use discussion to avoid rather than make a decision. Avoidance tactics include the following: Two fundamental "laws" that groups all too often obey: Individuals in a group decision-making setting are often functioning under substantial cognitive demands. As a result, cognitive and motivational biases can often affect group decision-making adversely. According to Forsyth, there are three categories of potential biases that
6045-468: The heading of intelligent decision support systems in his work on the topic of human error. James Reason notes that events subsequent to The Three Mile accident have not inspired great confidence in the efficacy of some of these methods. In the Davis-Besse accident, for example, both independent safety parameter display systems were out of action before and during the event. Decision-making software
6138-726: The history of elections. Males, the dominant cultural group in North America and Europe, often dominated the electorate and continue to do so in many countries. Early elections in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States were dominated by landed or ruling class males. By 1920 all Western European and North American democracies had universal adult male suffrage (except Switzerland) and many countries began to consider women's suffrage . Despite legally mandated universal suffrage for adult males, political barriers were sometimes erected to prevent fair access to elections (see civil rights movement ). Elections are held in
6231-431: The involvement of the broader group to determine a choice. Thus, they do not engender commitment to the course of action chosen. An absence of commitment from individuals in the group can be problematic during the implementation phase of a decision. There are no perfect decision-making rules. Depending on how the rules are implemented in practice and the situation, all of these can lead to situations where either no decision
6324-525: The legislature (parliamentary system) more problematic if the date should happen to fall at a time when dissolution is inconvenient (e.g. when war breaks out). Other states (e.g., the United Kingdom ) only set maximum time in office, and the executive decides exactly when within that limit it will actually go to the polls. In practice, this means the government remains in power for close to its full term, and chooses an election date it calculates to be in its best interests (unless something special happens, such as
6417-567: The majority of the colonies became independent nations, their citizens have retained the right to vote if they live in the United Kingdom. In theory, members of the Royal Family who are not members of the House of Lords (including those who are peers who lost their right to sit following the House of Lords Act 1999) are eligible to vote, although in practice they do not exercise that right. In Great Britain , most electors are enrolled during
6510-402: The modern system of elections was never meant to give ordinary citizens the chance to exercise power - merely privileging their right to consent to those who rule. Therefore, the representatives that modern electoral systems select for are too disconnected, unresponsive, and elite-serving. To deal with this issue, various scholars have proposed alternative models of democracy, many of which include
6603-416: The other hand, additional considerations must also be taken into account when evaluating the appropriateness of a decision-making framework. For example, the possibility of group polarization also can occur at times, leading some groups to make more extreme decisions than those of its individual members, in the direction of the individual inclinations. There are also other examples where the decisions made by
6696-502: The other hand, an active and intelligent DSS is an important tool for the design of complex engineering systems and the management of large technological and business projects. With age, cognitive function decreases and decision-making ability decreases. Generally speaking, the low age group uses the team decision effect to be good; with the age, the gap between the team decision and the excellent choice increases. Past experience can influence future decisions. It can be concluded that when
6789-426: The people . Sham elections can sometimes backfire against the party in power, especially if the regime believes they are popular enough to win without coercion, fraud or suppressing the opposition. The most famous example of this was the 1990 Myanmar general election , in which the government-sponsored National Unity Party suffered a landslide defeat by the opposition National League for Democracy and consequently,
6882-431: The potential to outperform individuals. However they do not always reach this potential. Groups often lack proper communication skills. On the sender side this means that group members may lack the skills needed to express themselves clearly. On the receiver side this means that miscommunication can result from information processing limitations and faulty listening habits of human beings. In cases where an individual controls
6975-401: The predominance of elections in modern liberal democracies masks the fact that they are actually aristocratic selection mechanisms that deny each citizen an equal chance of holding public office. Such views were expressed as early as the time of Ancient Greece by Aristotle . According to French political scientist Bernard Manin, the inegalitarian nature of elections stems from four factors:
7068-451: The prescribed candidates or for the referendum choice that favours the political party in power. Dictatorial regimes can also organize sham elections with results simulating those that might be achieved in democratic countries. Sometimes, only one government-approved candidate is allowed to run in sham elections with no opposition candidates allowed, or opposition candidates are arrested on false charges (or even without any charges) before
7161-459: The press , lack of objectivity in the press due to state or corporate control, or lack of access to news and political media. Freedom of speech may be curtailed by the state, favouring certain viewpoints or state propaganda . Gerrymandering , exclusion of opposition candidates from eligibility for office, needlessly high restrictions on who may be a candidate, like ballot access rules, and manipulating thresholds for electoral success are some of
7254-489: The process of introducing fair electoral systems where they are not in place, or improving the fairness or effectiveness of existing systems. Psephology is the study of results and other statistics relating to elections (especially with a view to predicting future results). Election is the fact of electing, or being elected. To elect means "to select or make a decision", and so sometimes other forms of ballot such as referendums are referred to as elections, especially in
7347-445: The regime through suppression of the opposition, coercion of voters, vote rigging , reporting several votes received greater than the number of voters, outright lying, or some combination of these. In an extreme example, Charles D. B. King of Liberia was reported to have won by 234,000 votes in the 1927 general election , a "majority" that was over fifteen times larger than the number of eligible voters. Some scholars argue that
7440-752: The region. In the Chola Empire , around 920 CE, in Uthiramerur (in present-day Tamil Nadu ), palm leaves were used for selecting the village committee members. The leaves, with candidate names written on them, were put inside a mud pot. To select the committee members, a young boy was asked to take out as many leaves as the number of positions available. This was known as the Kudavolai system. The first recorded popular elections of officials to public office, by majority vote, where all citizens were eligible both to vote and to hold public office, date back to
7533-1090: The results were annulled. Examples of sham elections include: the presidential and parliamentary elections of the Islamic Republic of Iran , the 1929 and 1934 elections in Fascist Italy , the 1942 general election in Imperial Japan , those in Nazi Germany , East Germany , the 1940 elections of Stalinist "People's Parliaments" to legitimise the Soviet occupation of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania , those in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser , Anwar Sadat , Hosni Mubarak , and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi , those in Bangladesh under Sheikh Hasina , those in Russia under Vladimir Putin (including
7626-454: The technical or scientific merit of the options is ambiguous. In addition to the different processes involved in making decisions, group decision support systems (GDSSs) may have different decision rules. A decision rule is the GDSS protocol a group uses to choose among scenario planning alternatives. Plurality and dictatorship are less desirable as decision rules because they do not require
7719-531: The term citizen, the electorates grew to numbers beyond the thousands. Elections with an electorate in the hundred thousands appeared in the final decades of the Roman Republic , by extending voting rights to citizens outside of Rome with the Lex Julia of 90 BC , reaching an electorate of 910,000 and estimated voter turnout of maximum 10% in 70 BC, only again comparable in size to the first elections of
7812-574: The three highest classes of citizens could vote in elections. Nor were the lowest of the four classes of Athenian citizens (as defined by the extent of their wealth and property, rather than by birth) eligible to hold public office, through the reforms of Solon . The Spartan election of the Ephors, therefore, also predates the reforms of Solon in Athens by approximately 180 years. Questions of suffrage , especially suffrage for minority groups, have dominated
7905-431: The time of voting—with some possible exceptions such as through a minimum age requirement—in the jurisdiction. In such cases, it is not required (or even possible) that the members of the electorate be familiar with all of the eligible persons, though such systems may involve indirect elections at larger geographic levels to ensure that some first-hand familiarity among potential electees can exist at these levels (i.e., among
7998-465: The unequal treatment of candidates by voters, the distinction of candidates required by choice, the cognitive advantage conferred by salience, and the costs of disseminating information. These four factors result in the evaluation of candidates based on voters' partial standards of quality and social saliency (for example, skin colour and good looks). This leads to self-selection biases in candidate pools due to unobjective standards of treatment by voters and
8091-456: The vote. The first seriously competitive presidential election in modern Mexican history was that of 1988 , in which for the first time the PRI candidate faced two strong opposition candidates, though it is believed that the government rigged the result. The first fair election was held in 1994 , though the opposition did not win until 2000 . A predetermined conclusion is permanently established by
8184-422: The voters at prescribed intervals to seek their mandate to continue in office. For that reason, most democratic constitutions provide that elections are held at fixed regular intervals. In the United States, elections for public offices are typically held between every two and six years in most states and at the federal level, with exceptions for elected judicial positions that may have longer terms of office. There
8277-422: The voting system then determines the result on the basis of the tally. Most systems can be categorized as either proportional , majoritarian or mixed . Among the proportional systems, the most commonly used are party-list proportional representation (list PR) systems, among majoritarian are first-past-the-post electoral system (single winner plurality voting ) and different methods of majority voting (such as
8370-410: The ways the structure of an election can be changed to favour a specific faction or candidate. Scheduling frequent elections can also lead to voter fatigue . Those in power may arrest or assassinate candidates, suppress or even criminalize campaigning, close campaign headquarters, harass or beat campaign workers, or intimidate voters with violence. Foreign electoral intervention can also occur, with
8463-408: The widely used two-round system ). Mixed systems combine elements of both proportional and majoritarian methods, with some typically producing results closer to the former ( mixed-member proportional ) or the other (e.g. parallel voting ). Many countries have growing electoral reform movements, which advocate systems such as approval voting , single transferable vote , instant runoff voting or
8556-577: Was removed in the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014. Remand prisoners, voluntary patients in mental hospitals and people without a fixed place of residence can register to vote by making a declaration of local connection . Members of HM Forces and their immediate family members have the option of registering as a service voter , by making a service declaration based on their last UK address. British citizens (but not other categories of British nationals) residing outside
8649-404: Was revised in 2024; both the 15-year limitation and also the requirement to have already been on an electoral register were removed. A revised online registration procedure for voters (including overseas voters) was implemented on 16 January 2024. Crown servants and British Council employees (as well as their spouses who live abroad ) employed in a post outside the UK can register by making
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