Limited voting is a voting system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member The two-round system (also known as the second ballot or runoff voting) is a Voting system used to elect a single winner The exhaustive ballot is a Voting system used to elect a single winner This article is about voting systems that use ranked ballots For alternative meanings see Preferential voting (disambiguation. The Condorcet candidate or Condorcet winner of an Election is the candidate who when compared with every other candidate is preferred by more voters A Condorcet method is any single-winner election method that meets the Condorcet criterion, that is which always selects the Condorcet winner, the candidate Copeland's method is a Condorcet method in which the winner is determined by finding the candidate with the most pairwise victories The Kemeny-Young method is a Voting system that uses Preferential ballots Pairwise comparison counts and sequence scores to identify the Minimax is often considered to be the simplest of the Condorcet methods It is also known as the Simpson-Kramer method, and the successive reversal method The Borda count can be combined with an Instant Runoff procedure to create hybrid election methods that are called Nanson method and Baldwin method. Ranked Pairs (RP or Tideman (named after its developer Nicolaus Tideman) is a Voting method that selects a single winner using votes that express The Schulze method is a Voting system developed in 1997 by Markus Schulze that selects a single winner using votes that express preferences. Bucklin voting is the name of a Voting system that can be used for single-member and multi-member districts. The Coombs' method, also called the Coombs rule is a Voting system created by Clyde Coombs used for single-winner Elections in which Instant-runoff voting ( IRV) is a Voting system used for single-winner elections in which voters have one vote and rank Candidates in order of The Borda count is a single-winner election method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference Approval voting is a single-winner voting system used for Elections Each voter may vote for (approve of as many of the candidates as they wish Range voting (also called ratings summation, average voting, cardinal ratings, score voting, 0–99 voting, or the score A voting system allows voters to choose between options often in an Election where candidates are selected for public office. Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation or PR is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes Cumulative voting (also accumulation voting or weighted voting) is a multiple-winner Voting system intended to promote Proportional representation Mixed member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is an ' additional member ' Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of Voting systems used in multiple-winner Elections (e Open list describes any variant of Party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected Closed list describes the variant of Party-list proportional representation where voters can (effectively only vote for political parties as a whole and thus The D'Hondt method (mathematically but not operationally equivalent to Jefferson's method, and Bader-Ofer method) is a Highest averages method for The highest averages method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list Voting systems. The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list Voting systems. The Sainte-Laguë method of the highest average (equivalent to Webster's method or divisor method with standard rounding is one way of allocating seats proportionally for Single transferable vote (STV is a preferential Voting system designed to minimize Wasted votes and provide Proportional representation The Quota Borda System or Quota Preference Score is a Voting system that was devised by the British philosopher Michael Dummett and first published in 1984 in his The matrix vote can be used when one group of people wishes to elect a smaller number of persons each of whom is to have a different assignment The Additional Member System (AMS is a branch of Voting systems in which some representatives are elected from geographic constituencies and others are elected under Parallel voting describes a mixed Voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections using different systems and where the results in one election have Cumulative voting (also accumulation voting or weighted voting) is a multiple-winner Voting system intended to promote Proportional representation The single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an Electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections Sortition, also known as allotment, is an equal-chance method of selection by some form of lottery such as drawing coloured pebbles from a bag The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes absolutely. In the special case in which the voter may vote for only one candidate and there are two or more posts, this system is called the single non-transferable vote or sometimes the strictly limited vote. The single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an Electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections

Example

The town of Voterville elects three representatives to the local legislature. A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation At the election, the ballot paper appears thus:

The voter has only two votes, which they have cast for Barry and Berryl Blue. They cannot cast a vote for the third available seat. Each vote counts as one towards the total for the candidate they have put their mark against.

Practice and issues

Although it frequently enables minority groupings to gain representation - unlike first past the post or bloc voting systems - it is not guaranteed to do this, since the effectiveness of a sectional vote may be altered depending on the number of candidates fielded. The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member

For example, in Voterville 54% of electors support the Blue Party while 46% support the Red Party. Assuming an even distribution of support across the town, the Blue Party would win all three seats with either bloc voting or first past the post. The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member With limited voting the Red Party would usually win one seat.

This is, however, complicated by the fact that it is possible for the Blue Party to overreach itself and win only one of the available seats. Since they have nearly 60% of the vote, they may be tempted to try and win all three seats for themselves. To do this, they need only to field three candidates. The Red Party, aware of the relative weakness chose only to contest two and thus to concentrate their vote.

Assuming 100,000 electors in the town casting two votes each, the results would, thus, be:

By fielding three candidates the Blue Party hopelessly split their vote, despite being the clear majority in the town.

As can be seen from this example, limited voting is not a proportional electoral system.

Conversely another way in which the system may fail to achieve its end of minority representation, is if the largest party is very well organised and is able to arrange the distibution of its supporters vote for maximum advantage. A historical example of where this was done successfully was the 1880 election for the three Members of Parliament for the English city of Birmingham. Birmingham was a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the city of Birmingham, Electors could cast up to two votes.

• Note: Turnout is estimated on the basis of dividing votes cast by two. To the extent that electors did not use both their possible votes, turnout will be underestimated. (Source: Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885).

Charles Seymour in Electoral Reform in England and Wales explained the reaction of the Liberals of Birmingham after the limited vote was enacted. .

The Liberals of Birmingham realized that if they were to retain the third seat, their vote must be divided economically between the three candidates. To prevent waste of votes, an organization must be built up which could control absolutely the choice of the elector; and each elector must vote invariably as he was told. The success of the Birmingham organization, which soon became known as the Caucus was unbroken and no Conservative candidate was returned. It was copied in many other constituencies and inaugurated a new era in the development of party electoral machinery, the effect of which upon the representative system has been profound.

History and current use

This system was used between 1867 and 1885 in the United Kingdom for some Parliamentary constituencies. Year 1867 ( MDCCCLXVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Year 1885 ( MDCCCLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located

It was also used in Italy at the end of the nineteenth century. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest

The limited vote has been used since the restoration of democracy to elect senators from the Spanish mainland. In the United States, it is used to elect most municipal offices in Connecticut, many county commissions in Pennsylvania, and some in other states. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Connecticut ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern It has been adopted to resolve voting rights cases in more than 20 municipalities in Alabama and North Carolina, as detailed in Arrington and Ingalls' 1998 article "The limited vote alternative to affirmative districting" (Political Geography, Volume 17, Number 6, Aug 1998 , pp. 701-728).

It is used for elections in Gibraltar where electors have eight votes for the 15 seats. Elections in Gibraltar gives information on Election and election results in Gibraltar.

'Fixed Ratio' or 'Limited List'

The electoral system whereby two seats are assigned to the leading party-list and one seat to the second-placed party-list normally has the same result as limited vote with two votes per voter for three seats. It is used for 96 of 128 seats of the Senate of Mexico, for the Senate of Bolivia and for the Senate of Argentina. The Senate ( Spanish: Cámara de Senadores or Senado) is the upper house of Mexico 's Bicameral Congress. The National Congress ( Congreso Nacional) is the national Legislature of Bolivia, based in the nation's De facto Capital, The Argentine Senate is the upper house of parliament in Argentina. A similar system was used for the Constituent Assembly of Bolivia elections of 2 July 2006) [1].

See also

• Cumulative voting
• single non-transferable vote
• bloc voting

External links

• A Handbook of Electoral System Design from International IDEA
• Electoral Design Reference Materials from the ACE Project