85-532: In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to candidates for president of the United States prior to campaign announcements and the primaries . Exploratory committees allow prospective candidates to raise money and hire staff, and they do not have to report financial activity to
170-437: 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
255-572: 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
340-461: 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
425-486: A turnout threshold (also called a participation quorum) in order for the referendum to be considered legally valid. In a participation quorum a majority of those voting must approve of the referendum, and a certain percentage of population must have voted in order for the results to be approved. The usage of participation quorums in referendums is controversial, as higher requirements have been shown to reduced turnout and voter participation. With high participation quorums,
510-467: A context attached to a noun such as Propositum quod referendum est populo , "A proposal which must be carried back to the people". The addition of the verb sum (3rd person singular, est ) to a gerundive, denotes the idea of necessity or compulsion, that which "must" be done, rather than that which is "fit for" doing. Its use as a noun in English is not considered a strictly grammatical usage of
595-524: A demand. This may come from the executive branch, legislative branch, or a request from the people (often after meeting a signature requirement). Types of optional referendums include: From a political-philosophical perspective, referendums are an expression of direct democracy , but today, most referendums need to be understood within the context of representative democracy . They tend to be used quite selectively, covering issues such as changes in voting systems, where currently elected officials may not have
680-404: 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
765-406: A foreign word but is rather a newly coined English noun, which follows English grammatical usage, not Latin grammatical usage. This determines the form of the plural in English, which according to English grammar should be "referendums". The use of "referenda" as a plural form in English (treating it as a Latin word and attempting to apply to it the rules of Latin grammar) is unsupportable according to
850-470: A legal shell for a candidate who expects to spend more than $ 5,000 while contemplating an actual run. Under the rules, exploratory money may be raised without the full disclosure of sources required of true candidates. Only when the candidate drops the exploratory label does the full responsibility of transparency apply. Candidates use an exploratory committee as not only a transitional phase for their bookkeeping but as an extra claim on media attention. Some of
935-429: 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
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#17327840243941020-625: A non-majoritarian methodology like the Modified Borda Count (MBC) as more inclusive and more accurate. Swiss referendums offer a separate vote on each of the multiple options as well as an additional decision about which of the multiple options should be preferred. In the Swedish case, in both referendums the 'winning' option was chosen by the Single Member Plurality ("first past the post") system. In other words,
1105-470: A plebiscite was considered another name for a referendum. In Ireland, 'plebiscite' referred to the vote to adopt its constitution, but a subsequent vote to amend the constitution is called a 'referendum', as is a poll of the electorate on a non-constitutional bill. The name and use of the 'referendum' is thought to have originated in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as early as the 16th century. After
1190-444: A plurality of issues. It is closely related to agenda , "those matters which must be driven forward", from ago , to impel or drive forwards; and memorandum , "that matter which must be remembered", from memoro , to call to mind, corrigenda , from rego , to rule, make straight, those things which must be made straight (corrected), etc. The term 'plebiscite' has a generally similar meaning in modern usage and comes from
1275-463: A reduction in the number of referendums in the Mid-twentieth century, the referendum as a political tool has been increasing in popularity since the 1970s. This increase has been attributed to dealignment of the public with political parties, as specific policy issues became more important to the public than party identifiers. The term "referendum" covers a variety of different meanings, and
1360-409: A referendum are more likely to be driven by transient whims than by careful deliberation, or that they are not sufficiently informed to make decisions on complicated or technical issues. Also, voters might be swayed by propaganda , strong personalities, intimidation, and expensive advertising campaigns. James Madison argued that direct democracy is the " tyranny of the majority ". Some opposition to
1445-461: A referendum held in Australia to determine a new national anthem was held, in which voters had four choices. In 1992, New Zealand held a five-option referendum on their electoral system. In 1982, Guam had a referendum that used six options, with an additional blank option for those wishing to (campaign and) vote for their own seventh option. A multiple choice referendum poses the question of how
1530-473: A referendum. Therefore avoid referendums. Therefore don't raise questions which require them, such as the big versus the little states. Some critics of the referendum attack the use of closed questions. A difficulty called the separability problem can plague a referendum on two or more issues. If one issue is in fact, or in perception, related to another on the ballot, the imposed simultaneous voting of first preference on each issue can result in an outcome which
1615-452: 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. Referendum A referendum , plebiscite , or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives ) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in
1700-402: 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
1785-486: 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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#17327840243941870-534: 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
1955-408: 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
2040-468: Is argued as the reason why, since World War II , there has been no provision in Germany for the holding of referendums at the federal level. In recent years, referendums have been used strategically by several European governments trying to pursue political and electoral goals. In 1995, John Bruton considered that All governments are unpopular. Given the chance, people would vote against them in
2125-460: 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
2210-661: Is displeasing to most. Several commentators have noted that the use of citizens' initiatives to amend constitutions has so tied the government to a jumble of popular demands as to render the government unworkable. A 2009 article in The Economist argued that this had restricted the ability of the California state government to tax the people and pass the budget, and called for an entirely new Californian constitution. A similar problem also arises when elected governments accumulate excessive debts. That can severely reduce
2295-470: 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
2380-411: 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
2465-433: 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
2550-572: 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
2635-662: 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 ,
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2720-570: 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
2805-643: The Federal Election Commission . Forming an exploratory committee for president almost always precedes an official candidacy, though some, such as Paul Wellstone in 2000 and Evan Bayh in 2008, have declined to formally run. Exploratory committees may be governed by law. For example, the District of Columbia legally defines Exploratory Committees as (in DC Official Code § 1-1101.01(6)(B)(vi)): Exploratory, draft or "testing
2890-584: 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
2975-485: 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
3060-664: 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
3145-584: The Latin plebiscita , which originally meant a decree of the Concilium Plebis (Plebeian Council), the popular assembly of the Roman Republic . Today, a referendum can also often be referred to as a plebiscite, but in some countries the two terms are used differently to refer to votes with differing types of legal consequences. In Australia, a 'referendum' is often said to be a vote to change
3230-474: The Swiss or Swedish sense (in which only one of several counter-propositions can be victorious, and the losing proposals are wholly null and void), it does have so many yes-or-no referendums at each election day that conflicts arise. The State's constitution provides a method for resolving conflicts when two or more inconsistent propositions are passed on the same day. This is a de facto form of approval voting —i.e.
3315-556: 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
3400-1053: 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 ,
3485-471: The adoption of a new policy ) or advisory (functioning like a large-scale opinion poll ). 'Referendum' is the gerundive form of the Latin verb referre , literally "to carry back" (from the verb ferre , "to bear, bring, carry" plus the inseparable prefix re- , here meaning "back" ). As a gerundive is an adjective , not a noun , it cannot be used alone in Latin, and must be contained within
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3570-402: 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
3655-573: 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
3740-467: The committee filing. Election 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
3825-414: 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
3910-469: 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
3995-519: The effective margin for later governments. Both these problems can be moderated by a combination of other measures as Referendums occur occasionally rather than periodically as elections are and they don’t offer the same kind of formal opposition. Because referendums affect for a longer term than legislative deliberation, a turnout and supermajority requirement is necessary to maintain principles of majoritarianism. In republic polities, referendums could be used to bypass legislatures and representatives by
4080-420: 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
4165-413: 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
4250-541: The electorate a straight choice between accepting or rejecting a proposal. However some referendums give voters multiple choices, and some use transferable voting. This has also been called a preferendum when the choices given allow the voters to weight their support for a policy. In Switzerland , for example, multiple choice referendums are common. Two multiple choice referendums were held in Sweden , in 1957 and in 1980, in which voters were offered three options. In 1977,
4335-502: The federal constitution and 'plebiscite' a vote which does not affect the federal constitution. However, this is erroneous as not all federal referendums have been on constitutional matters (such as the 1916 Australian conscription referendum ), and state votes that likewise do not affect either the federal or state constitution are frequently said to be referendums (such as the 2009 Western Australian daylight saving referendum ). Historically, they are used by Australians interchangeably and
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#17327840243944420-476: 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"
4505-793: 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
4590-525: 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
4675-644: The legitimacy or inclination to implement such changes. Since the end of the 18th century, hundreds of national referendums have been organised in the world; almost 600 national votes have been held in Switzerland since its inauguration as a modern state in 1848 . Italy ranks second with 78 national referendums : 72 popular referendums (51 of which were proposed by the Radical Party ), 4 constitutional referendums, one institutional referendum and one advisory referendum . A referendum usually offers
4760-406: 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
4845-482: The most skillful handlers like to leak word that their candidate is testing the waters, then leak word that he or she is thinking about forming an exploratory committee. Additional "news" can be made when the same candidate actually forms such a committee and registers with the Federal Election Commission. Yet a fourth round of attention may be generated when the word exploratory gets dropped from
4930-409: The opposition of a referendum has an interest in abstaining from the vote instead of participating, in order to invalidate the referendum results through low turnout. This is a form of the no-show paradox . All others who are not voting for other reasons, including those with no opinion, are effectively also voting against the referendum. In the 2005 Italian fertility laws referendum , opposition to
5015-428: 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,
5100-403: 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:
5185-452: 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
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#17327840243945270-459: 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
5355-489: 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
5440-418: The proposed loosening of laws on research on embryos and on allowing in-vitro fertilization , campaigned for people to abstain from voting to drive down turnout. Although a majority of people voted yes for the changes in the law, the results were invalid because participation was low. Important referendums are frequently challenged in courts. In pre-referendum disputes, plaintiffs have often tried to prevent
5525-418: The proposition with the most "yes" votes prevails over the others to the extent of any conflict. Other voting systems that could be used in multiple-choice referendum are Condorcet method and quadratic voting (including quadratic funding ). Quorums are typically introduced to prevent referendum results from being skewed by low turnout or decided by a motivated minority of voters. Referendums may require
5610-408: The public. In areas that use referendums a mandatory referendum is commonly used as a legally required step for ratification for constitutional changes, ratifying international treaties and joining international organizations, and certain types of public spending. Typical types of mandatory referendums include: An optional referendum is a class of referendums that is put to the vote as a result of
5695-522: The referendum has arisen from its use by dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini who, it is argued, used the plebiscite to disguise oppressive policies as populism . Dictators may also make use of referendums as well as show elections to further legitimize their authority such as António de Oliveira Salazar in 1933 ; Benito Mussolini in 1934 ; Adolf Hitler in 1934 , 1936 ; Francisco Franco in 1947 ; Park Chung Hee in 1972 ; and Ferdinand Marcos in 1973 . Hitler's use of plebiscites
5780-881: The referendum to take place. In one such challenge, in 2017, the Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the Catalonia 's independence referendum . In post-referendum disputes, they challenge the result. British courts dismissed post-referendum challenges of the Brexit referendum. International tribunals have traditionally not interfered with referendum disputes. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights extended its jurisdiction to referendums in its judgment Toplak and Mrak v. Slovenia , initiated by two disabled voters over polling place access . In Political Governance states that voters in
5865-446: 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
5950-756: 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
6035-621: The result is to be determined. They may be set up so that if no single option receives the support of an absolute majority (more than half) of the votes, resort can be made to the two-round system or instant-runoff voting , which is also called IRV and PV. In 2018 the Irish Citizens' Assembly considered the conduct of future referendums in Ireland , with 76 of the members in favour of allowing more than two options, and 52% favouring preferential voting in such cases. Other people regard
6120-1092: 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
6205-543: The rules of both Latin and English grammar. The use of "referenda" as a plural form is posited hypothetically as either a gerund or a gerundive by the Oxford English Dictionary , which rules out such usage in both cases as follows: Referendums is logically preferable as a plural form meaning 'ballots on one issue' (as a Latin gerund, referendum has no plural). The Latin plural gerundive 'referenda', meaning 'things to be referred', necessarily connotes
6290-469: 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
6375-521: The terminology is different depending on the us that holds them. A referendum can be binding or advisory. In some countries, different names are used for these two types of referendum. Referendums can be further classified by who initiates them. David Altman proposes four dimensions that referendums can be classified by: A mandatory referendum is a class of referendum required to be voted on if certain conditions are met or for certain government actions to be taken. They do not require any signatures from
6460-577: 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
6545-431: 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
6630-466: 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
6715-456: 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
6800-422: 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
6885-422: 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
6970-550: The waters" committees are formed solely for the purpose of determining the feasibility of an individual’s candidacy for office. The activities of exploratory committees may include polling, travel, and telephone calls to determine whether the individual should become a candidate. NPR reporter Ron Elving described the use of exploratory committees in his story, "Declaring for President is a Dance of Seven Veils ," which aired on December 5, 2006. He wrote: The exploratory committee has been around for decades, and technically it creates
7055-410: 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
7140-408: 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
7225-538: The winning option was deemed to be that supported by a plurality , rather than an absolute majority, of voters. In the 1977 Australian referendum, the winner was chosen by the system of preferential instant-runoff voting (IRV). Polls in Newfoundland (1949) and Guam (1982), for example, were counted under a form of the two-round system , and an unusual form of TRS was used in the 1992 New Zealand poll. Although California has not held multiple-choice referendums in
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