CPO-2002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 57: Instant-Runoff Voting, Tactical Voting
Document Summary
Democracies are sometimes classified in terms of the electoral system that they employ. An electoral system is a set of laws that regulate electoral competition between candidates or parties or both. Political scientists typically distinguish between electoral systems based on the electoral formula that they employ. An electoral formula determines how votes are translated into seats. A majoritarian electoral system is one in which the candidates or parties that receive the most votes win. A single-member district plurality (smdp) system is one in which individuals cast a single vote for a candidate in a single-member district. Criticisms: a candidate can win without a majority of the vote produces unrepresentative outcomes encourages strategic voting. The alternative vote is a system of preferential voting. Preferential voting involves voters ranking one or more candidates or parties in order of preference on the ballots.
