Voting systems
Voting in an election may seem simple. The candidate with the most votes is always the winner, right? Wrong. There are more election methods than you may think, and it's actually pretty interesting to learn about them. Here are just a few of the myriad ways of voting:
Plurality
This is the simplest and best-known voting system. Voters select their favorite candidate from a list. Depending on which variation is used, a candidate must receive a plurality (more than any other candidate) or a majority (more than half) of the votes in order to win.
Anti-plurality
Voters select the candidate that they like least from a list, and the candidate with the fewest of these negative votes is the winner.
Random ballot
Like plurality voting, but instead of counting everyone’s votes, one ballot is chosen at random and determines the winner. This method is rarely used except as a tie-breaker.
Runoff
Several rounds of plurality voting are conducted, stopping when one candidate has a majority of the votes. There are two variations: the two-round system and the exhaustive ballot. In the two-round system, if no candidate has a majority after the first round, the top two candidates from the first round move on to the second and final round. In exhaustive ballot voting, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated after each round until one candidate has a majority.
Primary election
Each political party chooses its candidate through plurality voting, and the winner of each primary moves on to the general election, which is also decided through plurality voting.
Instant runoff
Voters rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate has a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated. In the next round, anyone who voted for the eliminated candidate has their vote transferred to their second-choice candidate. This process repeats; in every round each ballot counts as a first-place vote for the highest-ranked candidate on the ballot that hasn’t been eliminated. The process stops when a candidate has a majority of the votes.
Coombs’ method
This method is like instant runoff voting, but the candidate who has the most last-place votes is eliminated in each round.
Borda count
Voters rank the candidates in order of preference. The candidates receive a number of points based on the order in which they are ranked by each voter. For example, if there are 3 candidates, my first-place candidate would get 3 points, my second-place candidate would get 2 points, and my last-place candidate would get 1 point. The candidate who has the most total points is the winner.
Range Voting
Voters give each candidate a score, for example, a letter from A to F or a number between 1 and 10. The ballots are averaged together, and the candidate with the greatest average score is the winner. This method is more commonly used by judges in contests than by voters in political elections.
Approval voting
Voters vote for all the candidates that they approve of. There is no ranking; the only possible options are to approve a candidate or not. The candidate with the most votes of approval is the winner.
