Electoral systems Flashcards
What is the ‘winners bonus’?
FPTP tends to over-reward the winning party in an election. For example, in 1997 labour gained 43% of the national vote and 63% of the seats. This is because regardless of the vote the party receives, the winner of each seat gains the whole seat.
How did Ireland use a Citizen’s assembly to change the law on abortion in 2018?
An assembly is a panel with 99 randomly selected people broadly representative of Irish society. The assembly talked over 5 sessions from November 2016 to April 2017. They were given information on the topic from 25 experts and then 300 pieces of information from the general public. They recommended the government change the constitution to allow abortion. This went to a referendum an 64% of people voted in favour of abortion.
In the 2022 US midterms, what citizens initiatives were included on ballot papers?
In Michigan they voted to keep abortion legal.Nebraska has voted for ID to be needed in order to vote. Missouri legalised recreational marijuana.Alabama, Vermont and Tennessee voted against prison labour, while Louisiana voted down a ban.
Holyrood
The name of the Scottish parliament.
Plurality
Don’t need to win a majority.
Party List Proportional Representation
Rather than electing one person per area, in Party List systems each area is bigger and elects a group of MPs that closely reflect the way the area voted. At the moment we have 650 constituencies, each electing 1 Member of Parliament (MP); under a Party List system we might have 26 constituencies each electing 25 MPs..
Borda Count
On polling day, voters get a single ballot paper with a list of candidates. The voters put a number next to each candidate, with their favourite at number one.
Supplementary vote
There are two columns of boxes alongside the candidates’ names on the ballot paper. One column of boxes is for voters to mark their favourite candidate with an X and one in which to mark a second favourite with an X. Voters don’t have to mark a second favourite if they do not have one. Voters can put a X in both boxes for one candidate but this is effectively the same as just marking your favourite and no additional benefit comes from this.
Two round system
On the first election day, voters mark their preferred candidate with an “X”. If the candidate wins 50 percent of the vote they are elected, otherwise, a second ballot is held, usually two or three weeks later.
Alternative Vote Plus
Voters vote once with the Alternative Vote (in which voters rank candidates in order of preference) to elect a candidate in each constituency, and vote again on a small top-up list to make the overall result more proportional. With the top-up list, voters can either select their favourite party or choose their favourite candidate from the top-up list and the votes are then allocated to represent each party’s share of the votes proportionally
Additional Member System
Voters have two ballot papers. On the first is a list of candidates who want to be the local Member of Parliament (MP). In Scotland, they are called Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) and in Wales, Members of the Senedd (MS). Like a Westminster election, the voter marks their preferred candidate with a cross. On the second ballot paper is a list of parties who want seats in parliament. Each party will publish a list of candidates in advance. A vote for a party is a vote to make more of their list of candidates into MPs.
Single Transferable vote
Rather than one person representing everyone in a small area, bigger areas elect a small team of representatives, such as 4 or 5. These representatives reflect the diversity of opinions in the area. On election day, voters number a list of candidates. Their favourite as number one, their second favourite number two, and so on. Voters can put numbers next to as many or as few candidates as they like. Parties will often stand more than one candidate in each area. The numbers tell the people counting to move your vote if your favourite candidate has enough votes already or stands no chance of winning.
First past the post
The name of the electoral system used to elect MPs to Westminster.
