Condorcet methods
89-590: Ewansville or Ewanville is an unincorporated community located in Burlington County , in the U.S. state of New Jersey . The community is centered on the crossing of US 206 and the North Branch of the Rancocas Creek just north of the former Philadelphia and Long Branch Railway (later Pennsylvania Railroad ). Ewansville was the site of a station on the aforementioned railroad and
178-424: A single-winner voting rule. Voters typically mark one candidate as their favorite, and the candidate with the largest number of first-preference marks (a plurality ) is elected, regardless of whether they have over half of all votes (a majority ). It is sometimes called first-past-the-post (FPTP) in reference to gambling on horse races (where bettors would guess which horse they thought would be first past
267-625: A "Parliament full of second-choices who no one really wanted but didn't really object to either." However, FPP often results in strategic voting , which has prevented extreme left- and right-wing parties from gaining parliamentary seats , as opposed to proportional representation . This also implies that strategic voting is necessary to keep extremists from gaining seats, which often fails to materialize in practice for multiple reasons. In comparison, many other systems encourage voters to rank other candidates and thereby not (or at least less often to) have to strategically compromise on their first choice at
356-467: A charter, unique to this municipality, allows its government to be tailor-made to its needs. A Charter Study Commission is one of two options available to residents of New Jersey to pursue a change in their form of government. The other option is a direct petition. The charter study commission approach is only available under the Faulkner Act. A charter study commission can be formed by a vote of
445-427: A contributory factor in the country adopting the apartheid system after the 1948 general election in that country. Leblang and Chan found that a country's electoral system is the most important predictor of a country's involvement in war, according to three different measures: (1) when a country was the first to enter a war; (2) when it joined a multinational coalition in an ongoing war; and (3) how long it stayed in
534-416: A county superintendent of schools (the state Department of Education 's representative) and executive county superintendent of schools (gubernatorial appointments whose duties include reducing district spending, collaboration and shared services) in each county. State law authorizes school districts: The state Commissioner of Education has the power of "state intervention", to intervene in governance of
623-472: A five-member Board of Trustees elected for staggered three-year terms. The board selects a president and a treasurer from among the members. New incorporations under this form were stopped in 1961. While there are 4 municipalities that retain the Village type of government ( Loch Arbour , Ridgefield Park , Ridgewood and South Orange ), none of them still use the Village form of government. Loch Arbour
712-425: A form of government and vary in size from large, densely populated areas to much smaller hamlets . The town form of government dates back to the late 19th century when towns were first incorporated in the state. The town government law was rewritten in 1988. In this form of government, a mayor is elected at large plus eight councilmen – two from each of four wards. The mayor presides over council meetings and votes as
801-521: A geographical base, parties that are small UK-wide can still do very well". On the other hand, minor parties that do not concentrate their vote usually end up getting a much lower proportion of seats than votes, as they lose most of the seats they contest and 'waste' most of their votes. The ERS also says that in FPP elections using many separate districts "small parties without a geographical base find it hard to win seats". Make Votes Matter said that in
890-542: A government without being the largest party. The use of proportional representation (PR) may enable smaller parties to become decisive in the country's legislature and gain leverage they would not otherwise enjoy, although this can be somewhat mitigated by a large enough electoral threshold . They argue that FPP generally reduces this possibility, except where parties have a strong regional basis. A journalist at Haaretz noted that Israel's highly proportional Knesset "affords great power to relatively small parties, forcing
979-520: A local public school district (and to intervene in the areas of instruction and program, operations, personnel, and fiscal management) if the Commissioner has determined that a school district has failed, or is unable, to take corrective actions necessary to establish a thorough and efficient system of education. When the state intervenes in governance of a school district, the board of education acts in an advisory capacity only, and ultimate authority
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#17327936904631068-431: A majority of seats just requires receiving more than half the vote in more than half the districts—even if the other party receives all the votes cast in the other districts—so just over a quarter of the vote is theoretically enough to win a majority in the legislature. With enough candidates splitting the vote in a district, the total number of votes needed to win can be made arbitrarily small . Under first-past-the-post,
1157-615: A majority of the votes cast in Canada only three times since 1921: in 1940 , 1958 and 1984 . In the United Kingdom, 19 of the 24 general elections since 1922 have produced a single-party majority government. In all but two of them ( 1931 and 1935 ), the leading party did not take a majority of the votes across the UK. In some cases, this can lead to a party receiving the plurality or even majority of total votes yet still failing to gain
1246-405: A member of the council. The mayor has veto power over ordinances that can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the council. All appointments to municipal offices are performed by the council. Currently, the state has 15 towns. The township form of government has a group of elected officials (the township committee) that serves as both the executive and legislative authority. This form of government
1335-509: A minor party in protest at its policies, since to do so would likely only help the major party's main rival. Rather than curtailing extreme voices, FPP today empowers the (relatively) extreme voices of the Labour and Conservative party memberships." For example, the electoral system of Hungary , a mixed system dominated by FPP have seen Fidesz (right-wing, populist party) win 135 seats in the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election and has remained
1424-717: A neighboring township such as Middlebush, New Jersey . Some smaller communities are incorporated into larger urban areas, such as when Greenville was merged into Jersey City as a neighborhood . New Jersey distinguishes between regional, consolidated, and countywide districts and those serving single municipalities. There are also non-operating school districts, which are those districts that do not operate any school facilities and where all students attend school in other districts as part of sending/receiving relationships . The majority of school districts in New Jersey are established for general purposes, have boundaries equivalent to
1513-474: A plurality of legislative seats. This results in a situation called a majority reversal or electoral inversion . Famous examples of the second-place party (in votes nationally) winning a majority of seats include the elections in Ghana in 2012 , New Zealand in 1978 and 1981 , and the United Kingdom in 1951 . Famous examples of the second placed party (in votes nationally) winning a plurality of seats include
1602-622: A powerful electoral incentive for large parties to target similar segments of voters with similar policies. The effect of this reduces political diversity in a country because the larger parties are incentivized to coalesce around similar policies. The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network describes India's use of FPTP as a "legacy of British colonialism". Duverger's law is an idea in political science which says that constituencies that use first-past-the-post methods will lead to two-party systems , given enough time. Economist Jeffrey Sachs explains: The main reason for America's majoritarian character
1691-499: A principle known in political science as Duverger's Law . Smaller parties are trampled in first-past-the-post elections. However, most countries with first-past-the-post elections have multiparty legislatures (albeit with two parties larger than the others), the United States being the major exception. There is a counter-argument to Duverger's Law, that while on the national level a plurality system may encourage two parties, in
1780-493: A significant number of safe seats , where a representative is sheltered from any but the most dramatic change in voting behavior. In the UK, the Electoral Reform Society estimates that more than half the seats can be considered as safe. It has been claimed that members involved in the 2009 expenses scandal were significantly more likely to hold a safe seat. The House of Commons of England originated in
1869-409: A single municipality. As well, the total area of any given airport may or may not lie completely within the boundaries of a given municipality—or even a given county. All local general purpose governments have equivalent legal powers, with the different forms and types reflecting the historical circumstances of the municipality's incorporation, similar to New England towns . For statistical purposes,
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#17327936904631958-548: A small party may draw votes and seats away from a larger party that it is more similar to, and therefore give an advantage to one it is less similar to. For example, in the 2000 United States presidential election , the left-leaning Ralph Nader drew more votes from the left-leaning Al Gore , resulting in Nader spoiling the election for the Democrats. According to the political pressure group Make Votes Matter , FPTP creates
2047-453: A system based on plurality voting spread over many separate districts is that the larger parties, and parties with more geographically concentrated support, gain a disproportionately large share of seats, while smaller parties with more evenly distributed support gain a disproportionately small share. This is because in doing this they win many seats and do not 'waste' many votes in other areas. As voting patterns are similar in about two-thirds of
2136-582: A tendency for Independentista voters to support Populares candidates. This phenomenon is responsible for some Popular victories, even though the Estadistas have the most voters on the island, and is so widely recognised that Puerto Ricans sometimes call the Independentistas who vote for the Populares "melons", because that fruit is green on the outside but red on the inside (in reference to
2225-466: A vote could be considered as wasted . FPP wastes fewer votes when it is used in two-party contests. But waste of votes and minority governments are more likely when large groups of voters vote for three, four or more parties as in Canadian elections. Canada uses FPP and only two of the last seven federal Canadian elections ( 2011 and 2015 ) produced single-party majority governments. In none of them did
2314-417: A war after becoming a party to it. When the people are fairly represented in parliament, more of those groups who may object to any potential war have access to the political power necessary to prevent it. In a proportional democracy, war and other major decisions generally requires the consent of the majority. The British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell , and others, have argued that Britain entered
2403-406: Is a prospect of a change in representation, leaving safer areas excluded from participation in an active campaign. Political parties operate by targeting districts, directing their activists and policy proposals toward those areas considered to be marginal, where each additional vote has more value. This feature of FPTP has often been used by its supporters in contrast to proportional systems. In
2492-466: Is assigned as a liaison to one or more departments of the county. Five counties (Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Mercer) have a separately elected county executive . A sixth county, Union, has a county executive that is appointed by the board, analogous to the council–manager municipal form of government. In these counties, the Board of County Commissioners retains only legislative authority. Most of
2581-479: Is at stake. For at-large elections with more than one seat, plurality-at-large voting is used. All counties in New Jersey hold organizational meetings on or right after New Year's Day. At this time the boards elect members to leadership positions on the boards. Depending upon the specific board these offices include director, deputy director, president, vice-president, chair, chair pro tempore, and vice-chair. Also at this organizational meeting each county commissioner
2670-582: Is composed of counties and municipalities. Local jurisdictions in New Jersey differ from those in some other states because the entire area of the state is part of a municipality ; each of the 564 municipalities is in exactly one county ; and each of the 21 counties has more than one municipality. New Jersey has no independent cities , nor consolidated city-counties . The forms of municipality in New Jersey are more complex than in most other states, though, potentially leading to misunderstandings regarding
2759-574: Is home to FM radio station 107.9 W300CZ, a translator for WPRB -HD3. W300CZ is Oldies 107.9 and 95.1 WOLD. The translator could not be heard in Ewansville since 2016, yet it remains licensed to the community. This Burlington County, New Jersey state location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities Local government in New Jersey
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2848-708: Is in a state district superintendent appointed by the State Board of Education. From 1987 to 2005, the State Board of Education had the power to take over an entire school district and manage it as a "state-operated school district", which was replaced by the legislature in 2005 with state intervention. Using this power, the state has assumed the operation of Newark Public Schools , Jersey City Public Schools , and Paterson Public Schools , which are in various stages of returning governance to local control: In Jersey City, governance has been restored to local control in
2937-544: Is one of the oldest and is derived from the town meeting form of government used in New England , where the township committee has similar functions to the board of selectmen . The township committee has either three or five members elected at large. Every year, the committee chooses one of its members to be the "mayor", becoming the moderator for meetings of the township committee but having no special powers. In general, all legislative and executive powers are exercised by
3026-407: Is related to kingmakers in that the lesser-known candidates may encourage their supporters to rank the other candidates a certain way. Supporters of electoral reform generally see this as a positive development, and claim that alternatives certain to FPP will encourage less negative and more positive campaigning, as candidates will have to appeal to a wider group of people. Opinions are split on whether
3115-495: Is that a portion of the electorate (2.7%) voted for Ralph Nader of the Green Party , and exit polls indicated that more of them would have preferred Gore (45%) to Bush (27%). The election was ultimately determined by the results from Florida , where Bush prevailed over Gore by a margin of only 537 votes (0.009%), which was far exceeded by the 97488 (1.635%) votes cast for Nader in that state. In Puerto Rico , there has been
3204-408: Is the electoral system for Congress. Members of Congress are elected in single-member districts according to the "first-past-the-post" (FPTP) principle, meaning that the candidate with the plurality of votes is the winner of the congressional seat. The losing party or parties win no representation at all. The first-past-the-post election tends to produce a small number of major parties, perhaps just two,
3293-428: Is usually first among equals with no powers over and above the other commissioners. The Municipal Manager Law was enacted in 1923 and is an optional form of government available to any type of municipality. Under this form of government, a municipal council composed of three, five, seven, or nine members is elected at-large with a term of office typically of four years. The council appoints several key officials, namely
3382-697: The 2017 general election , "the Green Party, Liberal Democrats and UKIP (minor, non-regional parties) received 11% of votes between them, yet they shared just 2% of seats", and in the 2015 general election , "[t]he same three parties received almost a quarter of all the votes cast, yet these parties shared just 1.5% of seats." According to Make Votes Matter, in the 2015 UK general election UKIP came in third in terms of number of votes (3.9 million/12.6%), but gained only one seat in Parliament, resulting in one seat per 3.9 million votes. The Conservatives on
3471-507: The United States for having five distinct types of incorporated municipalities. Each type of municipality has equal legal standing, rights, and powers as any other type or form. Unlike other parts of the United States, New Jersey does not have different tiers of power or legal standing for its municipal governments. Each of the five types has an associated form of government of exactly the same title. By default municipalities have
3560-549: The United States Census Bureau treats only boroughs, cities, towns, and villages as " municipalities ", and townships as " townships "; the Census Bureau's classification does not reflect the underlying state law that draws no distinction among the five types. New Jersey is divided into 21 counties, each of which is governed by a Board of County Commissioners ), which typically serves as both
3649-403: The boroughitis phenomenon of the late 19th century led to the incorporation of large numbers of new boroughs. A city in the context of local government in New Jersey refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government. There are 52 cities in New Jersey. Despite the widely held perception of a city as a large, urban area , cities in New Jersey have a confused history as
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3738-434: The 1970s , where the first round selects two major contenders who go on to receive the overwhelming majority of votes. [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: In FPTP, only
3827-414: The 20th century, many countries that previously used FPP have abandoned it in favor of other electoral systems, including the former British colonies of Australia and New Zealand . Most U.S. states still officially retain FPP for most elections. However, the combination of partisan primaries with the two-party system mean the country has effectively used a variation on the two-round system since
3916-564: The Condorcet and Borda count methods, which were respectively reinvented in the 18th century by the Marquis de Condorcet and Jean-Charles de Borda . More serious investigation into electoral systems came in the late 18th century, when several thinkers independently proposed systems of proportional representation to elect legislatures. The single transferable vote in particular was invented in 1819 by Thomas Wright Hill , and first used in
4005-554: The Faulkner Act, municipalities can choose one of four different options for their form of government. They are: New Jersey municipalities are not required to be governed by the Walsh Act, the 1923 Municipal Manager Law or the four forms of the Optional Municipal Charter Law (Faulkner Act). A community that finds all optional forms unsuitable may request a special charter from the state legislature. Such
4094-483: The Iraq War primarily because of the political effects of FPP and that proportional representation would have prevented Britain's involvement in the war. To a greater extent than many others, the first-past-the-post method encourages "tactical voting". Voters have an incentive to vote for a candidate who they predict is more likely to win, as opposed to their preferred candidate who may be unlikely to win and for whom
4183-652: The Middle Ages as an assembly representing the gentry of the counties and cities of the Kingdom, each of which elected either one or two members of parliament (MPs) by block plurality voting . Starting in the 19th century, electoral reform advocates pushed to replace these multi-member constituencies with single-member districts. Elections to the Canadian House of Commons have always been conducted with FPP. The United States broke away from British rule in
4272-434: The absence of) of party primaries maybe strengthen or weaken this effect. In general, FPP has no mechanism that would benefit more moderate candidates and many supporters of FPP defend it electing the largest and most unified (even if more polarizing) minority over a more consensual majority supported candidate. Allowing people into parliament who did not finish first in their district was described by David Cameron as creating
4361-453: The alternative vote (better known as instant runoff voting outside the UK) achieves this better than other systems. Supporters and opponents of FPP often argue whether FPP advantages or disadvantages extremist parties. Among single-winner systems, FPP suffers from the center squeeze phenomenon , where more moderate candidates are squeezed out by more extreme ones. However, the different types (or
4450-568: The board consists of nine members unless by law the number was reduced to three, five or seven members, elected at annual school elections for terms of three years, or appointed board of education, where members are appointed by the mayor or other chief executive officer of the municipality for five-year terms (for five-member boards) and three-year terms (for seven- and nine-member boards). Board of education members must be United States citizens, residents of their school districts for at least one year immediately preceding their appointment or election to
4539-605: The board, be registered to vote in the district, must be able to read and write English, cannot receive any compensation for their board service, and their conduct is governed by a code of ethics and the New Jersey School Ethics. All meetings of boards of education must be held in public, with certain exceptions, according to the Open Public Meetings Act. There is a superintendent for each district (which may be shared between districts), and
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#17327936904634628-481: The committee as a whole. The committee, however, may appoint an administrator to oversee the day-to-day operations of the municipality. The township form of government is only available to municipalities that are of the township type. Out of the 240 townships in the state, the township form of government is used by 141. The village form of government was made possible by the Village Act of 1891. This form comprises
4717-511: The communities have official recognition as a census-designated place , such as Somerset, New Jersey which is part of Franklin Township . Other communities have their own ZIP Code because they have their own post office such as Neshanic Station (ZIP Code 08853), which is part of Branchburg Township , or Deans , which is part of South Brunswick Township . Other communities were once single-owner large farms that were later incorporated into
4806-416: The country in question in circumstances where the government's legislative agenda has broad public support, albeit potentially divided across party lines, or at least benefits society as a whole. However handing a legislative voting majority to a government which lacks popular support can be problematic where said government's policies favor only that fraction of the electorate that supported it, particularly if
4895-436: The districts, it is more likely that a single party will hold a majority of legislative seats under FPP than happens in a proportional system, and under FPP it is rare to elect a majority government that actually has the support of a majority of voters. Because FPP permits many wasted votes , an election under FPP is more easily gerrymandered. Through gerrymandering , electoral areas are designed deliberately to unfairly increase
4984-399: The election a center squeeze . By contrast, both Condorcet methods and score voting would return Nashville (the capital of Tennessee). Perhaps the most striking effect of FPP is the fact that the number of a party's seats in a legislature has nothing to do with its vote count in an election, only in how those votes were geographically distributed. This has been a target of criticism for
5073-629: The elections in Canada in 2019 and 2021 as well as in Japan in 2003 . Even when a party wins more than half the votes in an almost purely two-party-competition, it is possible for the runner-up to win a majority of seats. This happened in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 1966 , 1998 , and 2020 and in Belize in 1993 . Even with only two parties and equally-sized constituencies, winning
5162-407: The electorate divides on tribal, religious, or urban–rural lines. There is also the perceived issue of unfair coalitions where a smaller party can form a coalition with other smaller parties and form a government, without a clear mandate as was the case in the 2009 Israeli legislative election where the leading party Kadima , was unable to form a coalition so Likud , a smaller party, managed to form
5251-542: The finishing post). In social choice , FPP is generally treated as a degenerate variant of ranked voting , where voters rank the candidates, but only the first preference matters. As a result, FPP is usually implemented with a choose-one ballot , where voters place a single bubble next to their favorite candidate. FPP has been used to elect the British House of Commons since the Middle Ages . Throughout
5340-470: The first class (cities with a population of over 150,000) the board of education must consist of nine members, and board members are appointed to three-year terms by the mayor or other chief executive of the municipality that constitutes the district. Type II school districts include all local districts in municipalities other than cities, all consolidated school districts, and all regional school districts, and can have either an elected board of education, where
5429-407: The first preferences matter. As such, the votes would be counted as 42% for Memphis, 26% for Nashville, 17% for Knoxville, and 15% for Chattanooga. Since Memphis has the most votes, it would win a FPTP election, even though it is far from the center of the state and a majority of voters would prefer Nashville . Similarly, instant-runoff voting would elect Knoxville , the easternmost city. This makes
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#17327936904635518-731: The form of an elected school board, although the state district superintendent remains to manage curriculum functions, while in Newark and Paterson governance has yet to change from state to local management. First past the post 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 First-preference plurality ( FPP ) also known as single-member district plurality ( SMDP )—often shortened simply to plurality —is
5607-401: The form of government which corresponds to their type, i.e. a Township has the Township form of government. In New Jersey a municipality can choose a different form of government if its citizens do not wish to operate under the form that matches its type. The borough form of government is New Jersey's most common, being used by 253 of the state's municipalities. Although it was once quite rare,
5696-417: The governing body. Alternatively, a ballot question to form a charter study commission can be performed through a petition or by the existing municipal governing body enacting an ordinance to form a commission. Voters simultaneously vote yes / no to form a commission and also vote to select its members (if it passes), with the top five candidates becoming the members of the commission. There is no territory in
5785-439: The government to give in to political blackmail and to reach compromises"; Tony Blair , defending FPP, argued that other systems give small parties the balance of power, and influence disproportionate to their votes. The concept of kingmakers is adjacent to how Winston Churchill criticized the alternative vote system as "determined by the most worthless votes given for the most worthless candidates." meaning that votes for
5874-649: The governmental nature of an area and what local laws apply. All municipalities can be classified as one of five types of local government— Borough , City , Township , Town , and Village —and one of twelve forms of government, the first five being historically associated with the five types of government and the other seven being non-standard "optional" forms provided by the New Jersey Legislature . To make matters more complex, New Jersey also distinguishes between regional, consolidated, and countywide school districts and school districts that serve only
5963-481: The individual constituencies supermajorities will lead to the vote fracturing. It has been suggested that the distortions in geographical representation provide incentives for parties to ignore the interests of areas in which they are too weak to stand much chance of gaining representation, leading to governments that do not govern in the national interest. Further, during election campaigns the campaigning activity of parties tends to focus on marginal seats where there
6052-588: The largest party in Hungary since 2010 by changing the electoral system to mostly use FPP instead of the previous mixed system using mostly the two-round system . Since 2010, Fidesz has implemented other anti-democratic reforms that now mean the European Parliament no longer qualifies Hungary as a full democracy. Electoral reform campaigners have argued that the use of FPP in South Africa was
6141-514: The late 18th century, and its constitution provides for an electoral college to elect its president. Despite original intentions to the contrary, by the mid-19th century this college had transformed into a de facto use of FPP for each state's presidential election. This further morphed through the introduction of the party primary , which made American elections into a two-round system in practice. Non-plurality voting systems have been devised since at least 1299, when Ramon Llull came up with both
6230-526: The latter, smaller parties act as 'kingmakers' in coalitions as they have greater bargaining power and therefore, arguably, their influence on policy is disproportional to their parliamentary size- this is largely avoided in FPP systems where majorities are generally achieved. FPP often produces governments which have legislative voting majorities, thus providing such governments the legislative power necessary to implement their electoral manifesto commitments during their term in office. This may be beneficial for
6319-501: The leading party receive a majority of the votes. The position is sometimes summarized, in an extreme form, as "all votes for anyone other than the runner-up are votes for the winner." This is because votes for these other candidates deny potential support from the second-placed candidate, who might otherwise have won. Following the extremely close 2000 U.S. presidential election , some supporters of Democratic candidate Al Gore believed one reason he lost to Republican George W. Bush
6408-403: The least supported candidates may change the outcome of the election between the most supported candidates. In this case however, this is a feature of the alternative vote, since those votes would have otherwise been wasted (and in some sense this makes every vote count, as opposed to FPP), and this effect is only possible when no candidate receives an outright majority of first preference votes. it
6497-420: The legislative and executive body. The boards consist of three, five, seven, or nine members. The means of election of county commissioners varies from all county commissioners being elected in districts, all being elected at-large, or being elected through mixed district and at-large county commissioners. Elections are first past the post for single-member districts, and for at-large elections when only one seat
6586-428: The method, many arguing that a fundamental requirement of an election system is to accurately represent the views of voters. FPP often creates "false majorities" by over-representing larger parties (giving a majority of the parliamentary/legislative seats to a party that did not receive a majority of the votes) while under-representing smaller ones. In Canada, majority governments have been formed due to one party winning
6675-476: The municipal manager, tax assessor, auditor, clerk, treasurer, and attorney. The manager is the chief executive of the municipality and is responsible for appointing other officials and preparing the budget for council consideration. The manager serves only at the pleasure of the council. A mayor is also chosen from among the council members whose primary duty is to preside over council meetings. Only seven municipalities currently use this form of government. In 1950
6764-425: The municipality with which they are associated, and are classified as either Type I or Type II school districts. The schools of each public school district are governed by a board of education. Type I school districts include every local school district established in a city except where the district has changed its classification, and the board of education consists of five, seven or nine members, while in cities of
6853-411: The north of England. This pattern hides the large number of votes for the non-dominant party. Parties can find themselves without elected politicians in significant parts of the country, heightening feelings of regionalism. Party supporters (who may nevertheless be a significant minority) in those sections of the country are unrepresented. In the 2019 Canadian federal election Conservatives won 98% of
6942-411: The number of seats won by one party by redrawing the map such that one party has a small number of districts in which it has an overwhelming majority of votes (whether due to policy, demographics which tend to favor one party, or other reasons), and many districts where it is at a smaller disadvantage. The British Electoral Reform Society (ERS) says that regional parties benefit from this system. "With
7031-471: The number required for victory. 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. On this basis a large majority of votes may play no part in determining the outcome. This winner-takes-all system may be one of the reasons why "voter participation tends to be lower in countries with FPP than elsewhere." The effect of
7120-653: The other hand received one seat per 34,000 votes. The winner-takes-all nature of FPP leads to distorted patterns of representation, since it exaggerates the correlation between party support and geography. For example, in the UK the Conservative Party represents most of the rural seats in England, and most of the south of England, while the Labour Party represents most of the English cities and most of
7209-585: The party colors). Because voters have to predict who the top two candidates will be, results can be significantly distorted: Proponents of other voting methods in single-member districts argue that these would reduce the need for tactical voting and reduce the spoiler effect . Examples include preferential voting systems, such as instant runoff voting , as well as the two-round system of runoffs and less tested methods such as approval voting and Condorcet methods . Wasted votes are seen as those cast for losing candidates, and for winning candidates in excess of
7298-514: The rest of the counties also appoint a county supervisor or administrator who is responsible for routine administrative operations of the county government. New Jersey counties have powers that are intermediate between the broad powers of counties in Pennsylvania and the limited powers of counties in New York . Counties in New Jersey do not have tax collecting power. New Jersey is unique in
7387-553: The same time. On the other hand, the Constitution Society published a report in April 2019 stating that, "[in certain circumstances] FPP can ... abet extreme politics , since should a radical faction gain control of one of the major political parties, FPP works to preserve that party's position. ...This is because the psychological effect of the plurality system disincentivises a major party's supporters from voting for
7476-658: The seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan with only 68% of the vote. The lack of non-Conservative representation gives the appearance of greater Conservative support than actually exists. Similarly, in Canada's 2021 elections, the Conservative Party won 88% of the seats in Alberta with only 55% of the vote, and won 100% of the seats in Saskatchewan with only 59% of the vote. First-past-the-post within geographical areas tends to deliver (particularly to larger parties)
7565-557: The state legislature enact a special charter. The Walsh Act was enacted in the Progressive Era as a way to remove corruption and political influence from local politics. Voters elect three or five commissioners in non-partisan elections. Each commissioner is in charge of specific departments within the municipality, and all serve four-year concurrent terms. The commissioners exercise both legislative and executive powers. The commissioners elect one of their members as mayor, but he
7654-409: The state legislature passed the Optional Municipal Charter Law, more familiarly known as the Faulkner Act. In the post-World War II era there was a general push toward more efficiency and professionalism in municipal government, as well as the creation of stronger executives at all levels of government. The 1947 New Jersey State Constitution , a contemporary document, reflects these trends as well. Under
7743-433: The state of New Jersey that is not part of an incorporated municipality. Some communities in the state of New Jersey are well-defined areas or neighborhoods that are part of one or more incorporated municipalities, but they are not independent municipalities in their own right. While these communities may have a sense of "communal character" and unique identity, they are all located within incorporated municipalities. Some of
7832-541: Was the last to do so, but on December 20, 2011, its residents voted to change to the Walsh Act form of government, with a three-member board of commissioners. New Jersey municipalities are not restricted in their form of government by the type of municipality. Any type of municipality that chooses to do so can adopt one of the six standard optional forms of government listed below, with some exceptions. Municipalities may also adopt non-standard forms of government by having
7921-475: Was the terminus for a short spur track to Vincentown . Ewansville is located near the tripoint of Eastampton , Pemberton and Southampton townships. Pemberton Township is situated north of the creek and east of US 206, Eastampton Township generally to the west of US 206, and Southampton comprises the remaining area. Some trailer parks line US 206 in this area; permanent houses are located on nearby Railroad Avenue and Indian Trail. Ewansville
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