Preferential voting - Revision history

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2016-07-13T17:47:26Z

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CPalmer: cat

2011-11-09T14:14:50Z

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BenDylan: /* Advantages */ rewriting using direct language

2011-04-07T11:39:32Z

‎Advantages: rewriting using direct language

BenDylan: /* Disadvantages */ added detail

2011-04-07T11:34:07Z

‎Disadvantages: added detail

BenDylan: /* Disadvantages */ spelling

2011-04-07T11:29:14Z

‎Disadvantages: spelling

DanielPulido at 06:27, April 11, 2010

2010-04-11T06:27:24Z

AusRight: Expanded and cleaned up page

2009-12-21T03:45:23Z

Expanded and cleaned up page

AusRight: Started the page with basic information.

2009-12-19T12:45:35Z

Started the page with basic information.

New page

Preferential voting is a system of voting by which the candidates are ranked in a list from 1 - 6 for example. It is used in some countries around the world to a various extent such as Ireland but it is far more widely used in Australia in both Local government elections, State election and Federal elections to decide candidates.

==Australia==

In Australia this form of voting has been in place for a long time and has given some benefit to small parties such as the Democrats, The Greens and One Nation who would find it Financially hard to run a campaign in a country which uses first past the post systems such as the US and the UK. A result in an Australian electorate could look something like this:

:{| cellpadding="4"
|-
| Ling (One Nation)|| 6,000 || 06.0%
|-
| Smith (Labor) || 45,000 || 45.0%
|-
| Jones (Liberal) || 35,000 || 35.0%
|-
| Johnson (Green) || 10,000 || 10.0%
|-
| Davies (Ind) || 4,000 || 04.0%
|}

As in most cases a single candidate will not receive more than 50% of the votes need to Win that electorate so then after the first preference votes are counted the person with the lowest amount of votes, which in this case is Davies who is an independent will have their votes divided among who was number 2 on that list.

:{| cellpadding="4"
|-
| Ling (One Nation)|| 6,000 || 06.0%
|-
| Smith (Labor) || 45,000 || 45.0%
|-
| Jones (Liberal) || 39,000 || 39.0%
|-
| Johnson (Green) || 10,000 || 10.0%
|}

Davies 4000 votes were all given to Jones the Liberal Candidate (Note that this is a heavily simplified version as most of the time votes will go to every other candidate and not 100% to just 1 candidate) giving him 36% of the total vote.

:{| cellpadding="4"
|-
| Smith (Labor) || 51,000 || 51.0%
|-
| Jones (Liberal) || 39,000 || 39.0%
|-
| Johnson (Green) || 10,000 || 10.0%
|}

Ling from the One Nation political party is next to have their preferences tallied up as they have the next lowest amount of primary votes. In this case all of his second preference votes go to the Australian Labor Party meaning that the ALP now has 51% of the total vote so now they have won and in this case the Greens second preference does not have to be counted as even if 100% of their preferences go to the Liberal Party they will still have a minority of votes with 49% of the Votes. Smith has now officially won that particular electorate or seat and no more voting will be done unless the result was really close and therefore a second check will be needed to confirm the results.

==Advantages==

Advantages of this system include:

* It ensures that only a candidate with the support of an absolute majority of the electorate can win, eliminating the possibility of minority winners. Put another way, the winning candidate is the "most preferred" or "least disliked" candidate.

* It ensures that voters can support minor parties and independent candidates, knowing that their preferences may be used to decide the winner. Thus, votes for minor parties and independents are not wasted.

* It allows parties of like-minded philosophies or policies to "exchange preferences" in order to assist each other to win.

* It promotes a strong two-party system, ensuring stability in the parliamentary process.

==Disadvantages==

Some disadvantages of this system include:

* It is more complicated to administer and count.

* It can produce a higher level of informal voting.

* It promotes a two-party system to the detriment of minor parties and independents.

* Voters are forced to express a preference for candidates they may not wish to support in any way. (The use of optional preferential voting, as used in New South Wales State elections, is a solution to this problem.)

==Further Reading==

http://www.australianpolitics.com/elections/features/preferential.shtml

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Preferential voting is a system of voting in which a voter ranks all candidates from first to last. It is used in some countries to various extents, most widely in Australia, where it is used in local, state, and federal elections.
+'''Preferential voting''' is a system of voting in which a voter ranks all candidates from first to last. It is used in some countries to various extents, most widely in Australia, where it is used in local, state, and federal elections.
 ==Australia==
@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 * Voters could be forced to give preferences for candidates they might not wish to support in any way although voters for two major parties don't need to worry as they will rarely or if ever need to be counted as they will most likely already have the most primary votes.
-==Further Reading==
+==Further reading==
 http://www.australianpolitics.com/elections/features/preferential.shtml
 [[Category:Politics]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:14, November 9, 2011
Line 80:		Line 80:

	http://www.australianpolitics.com/elections/features/preferential.shtml		http://www.australianpolitics.com/elections/features/preferential.shtml
		+	[[Category:Politics]]

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 Advantages of this system include:
-* It virtually guarantees that only a candidate with the support of a majority of the electorate can win. This essentially eliminates the possibility of minority winners as seen in some elections around the world. This means that the winning candidate is the "most preferred" or "least disliked" of all the candidates.
+* Removing the [[spoiler effect]]. When two ideologically similar candidates run for the same public office under a first past the post system, they steal votes from each other, allowing a less supported candidate to win.
 * It makes it possible for voters to support minor parties and independents as they know that their preferences may be used to decide the winner. This is important as votes for minor parties and independents are not wasted.

@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 * It is very complicated compared to first past the post.
-* It produces a higher level of informal votes especially with Australia's compulsory voting.
+* It produces a higher level of informal votes especially with Australia's compulsory voting. In the Australian system of preferential voting, if each candidate is not numbered, or a number is skipped, the ballot can be thrown out. With some electorates having twenty candidates running, voters can easily make mistakes and have their vote excluded.
 * The two-party system can be a detriment to minor parties and independents who want to hold office.

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 Some disadvantages of this system include:
-* It is very complicated compared ti first past the post.
+* It is very complicated compared to first past the post.
 * It produces a higher level of informal votes especially with Australia's compulsory voting.
@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 * The two-party system can be a detriment to minor parties and independents who want to hold office.
 * Voters could be forced to give preferences for candidates they might not wish to support in any way although voters for two major parties don't need to worry as they will rarely or if ever need to be counted as they will most likely already have the most primary votes.
 ==Further Reading==
 http://www.australianpolitics.com/elections/features/preferential.shtml

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:27, April 11, 2010
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	Preferential voting is a system of voting by which ~~the~~ candidates ~~are ranked in a list according~~ to ~~how many their are (like 1 - 6 for example)~~. It is used in some countries ~~around the world~~ to a various ~~extent such as Ireland but~~ it is ~~far more widely~~ used in ~~Australia in both Local government elections~~, ~~State election~~ and ~~Federal~~ elections ~~to decide candidates~~.	+	Preferential voting is a system of voting in which a voter ranks all candidates from first to last. It is used in some countries to various extents, most widely in Australia, where it is used in local, state, and federal elections.

	==Australia==		==Australia==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Preferential voting is a system of voting by which the candidates are ranked in a list from 1 - 6 for example. It is used in some countries around the world to a various extent such as Ireland but it is far more widely used in Australia in both Local government elections, State election and Federal elections to decide candidates.
+Preferential voting is a system of voting by which the candidates are ranked in a list according to how many their are (like 1 - 6 for example). It is used in some countries around the world to a various extent such as Ireland but it is far more widely used in Australia in both Local government elections, State election and Federal elections to decide candidates.
 ==Australia==
-In Australia this form of voting has been in place for a long time and has given some benefit to small parties such as the Democrats, The Greens and One Nation who would find it Financially hard to run a campaign in a country which uses first past the post systems such as the US and the UK. A result in an Australian electorate could look something like this:
+In Australia this form of voting has been in place for a long time and has given some benefit to small parties such as the Democrats, The Greens and One Nation who would find it financially difficult to run a campaign in a country which uses first past the post systems such as the US and the UK. A result in an Australian electorate could look something like this:
 :{| cellpadding="4"
 |-
-| Ling (One Nation)||    6,000  || 06.0%
+| White(One Nation)||    6,000  || 06.0%
 |-
-| Smith (Labor)    ||   45,000  || 45.0%
+| Wilson (Labor)   ||   45,000  || 45.0%
 |-
 | Jones (Liberal)  ||   35,000  || 35.0%
 |-
-| Johnson (Green)  ||   10,000  || 10.0%
+| Taylor (Green)   ||   10,000  || 10.0%
 |-
-| Davies (Ind)     ||    4,000  || 04.0%
+| Walker (Ind)     ||    4,000  || 04.0%
 |}
-As in most cases a single candidate will not receive more than 50% of the votes need to Win that electorate so then after the first preference votes are counted the person with the lowest amount of votes, which in this case is Davies who is an independent will have their votes divided among who was number 2 on that list.
+As in most cases a single candidate will not receive more than 50% of the votes (unless the seat is very secure) that is needed to win that electorate so then after the first preference votes (or primary votes) are counted the person with the lowest amount of votes, which in this case is Walker who is an independent will have their votes given among the people that were number 2 on that persons preference list.
 :{| cellpadding="4"
 |-
-| Ling (One Nation)||    6,000  || 06.0%
+| White(One Nation)||    6,000  || 06.0%
 |-
-| Smith (Labor)    ||   45,000  || 45.0%
+| Wilson(Labor)    ||   45,000  || 45.0%
 |-
 | Jones (Liberal)  ||   39,000  || 39.0%
 |-
-| Johnson (Green)  ||   10,000  || 10.0%
+| Taylor  (Green)  ||   10,000  || 10.0%
 |}
-Davies 4000 votes were all given to Jones the Liberal Candidate (Note that this is a heavily simplified version as most of the time votes will go to every other candidate and not 100% to just 1 candidate) giving him 36% of the total vote.
+Walkers' 4000 votes were all given to Jones the Liberal Candidate (Note that this is a heavily simplified version of the Australian preferences system as most of the time votes will go to every other candidate on the list and not just to 1 candidate) giving him 39% of the total vote.
 :{| cellpadding="4"
 |-
-| Smith (Labor)    ||   51,000  || 51.0%
+| Wilson (Labor)   ||   51,000  || 45.0%
 |-
-| Jones (Liberal)  ||   39,000  || 39.0%
+| Jones (Liberal)  ||   39,000  || 45.0%
 |-
-| Johnson (Green)  ||   10,000  || 10.0%
+| Jones (Liberal)  ||   46,000  || 48.0%
 |}
-Ling from the One Nation political party is next to have their preferences tallied up as they have the next lowest amount of primary votes. In this case all of his second preference votes go to the Australian Labor Party meaning that the ALP now has 51% of the total vote so now they have won and in this case the Greens second preference does not have to be counted as even if 100% of their preferences go to the Liberal Party they will still have a minority of votes with 49% of the Votes. Smith has now officially won that particular electorate or seat and no more voting will be done unless the result was really close and therefore a second check will be needed to confirm the results.
+The 2 party preferred result is now obtained from the Greens second preference votes and 7,000 votes were given to the ALP giving them a final percentage of 52% which gives them a tight victory and the 3,000 green votes that were given to the Liberal Party mean that they have 48% of the 2pp result. Voting is now complete and no more has to be done unless the result were really close and therefore a second check will be needed to confirm the results.
 ==Advantages==
@@ Line 48: / Line 57: @@
 Advantages of this system include:
-* It ensures that only a candidate with the support of an absolute majority of the electorate can win, eliminating the possibility of minority winners. Put another way, the winning candidate is the "most preferred" or "least disliked" candidate.
+* It virtually guarantees that only a candidate with the support of a majority of the electorate can win. This essentially eliminates the possibility of minority winners as seen in some elections around the world. This means that the winning candidate is the "most preferred" or "least disliked" of all the candidates.
-* It ensures that voters can support minor parties and independent candidates, knowing that their preferences may be used to decide the winner. Thus, votes for minor parties and independents are not wasted.
+* It makes it possible for voters to support minor parties and independents as they know that their preferences may be used to decide the winner. This is important as votes for minor parties and independents are not wasted.
-* It allows parties of like-minded philosophies or policies to "exchange preferences" in order to assist each other to win.
+* It means that parties who have similar philosophies or policies can give preferences to one another in order to help each other win.
-* It promotes a strong two-party system, ensuring stability in the parliamentary process.
+* It gives a strong two-party system which ensures solidity in the parliamentary process.
 ==Disadvantages==
@@ Line 60: / Line 69: @@
 Some disadvantages of this system include:
-* It is more complicated to administer and count.
+* It is very complicated compared ti first past the post.
-* It can produce a higher level of informal voting.
+* It produces a higher level of informal votes especially with Australia's compulsory voting.
-* It promotes a two-party system to the detriment of minor parties and independents.
+* The two-party system can be a detriment to minor parties and independents who want to hold office.
-* Voters are forced to express a preference for candidates they may not wish to support in any way. (The use of optional preferential voting, as used in New South Wales State elections, is a solution to this problem.)
+* Voters could be forced to give preferences for candidates they might not wish to support in any way although voters for two major parties don't need to worry as they will rarely or if ever need to be counted as they will most likely already have the most primary votes.
 ==Further Reading==
 http://www.australianpolitics.com/elections/features/preferential.shtml