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Consultancy
Balloting services - Voting Systems
First Past the Post (FPTP)This system is currently used for electing members to the British House of Commons. It is a plurality system with single member constituencies. Winning candidates simply gain more votes than other candidates on a single count. This need not be an absolute majority of the votes cast in a constituency.
The Alternative Vote (AV)Like first past the post, this is based on single member constituencies and is a majoritarian system. Winning candidates secure the support of over half the voters in a constituency. The vote is exercised by recording preferences against the candidates on the ballot paper. If no candidate receives more than half of the votes cast on the first count of first preference votes, the candidate who received the fewest first preference votes is eliminated and his/her second preferences are distributed between the other candidates. This process continues until one candidate has achieved and overall majority.
Supplementary Vote (SV)This is similar in method and purpose to the Alternative Vote, the key difference being that under SV, voters are limited to indicating a first and second preference. Where candidates receive more than a half of first preference votes cast on the first count, they are deemed elected. If not, all but the two candidates are eliminated and their second preferences redistributed. The candidate with the greatest share of the resultant vote is elected - in the majority of cases, but not necessarily, this will be with more than half of the votes cast. This system is used to elect the Mayor of London.
Second BallotAs with AV, the main objective of the Second Ballot system is to increase the chances of a candidate being elected on an absolute majority of the vote. Voting takes place on two separate occasions. If any one candidate fails to achieve an absolute majority after the first ballot, a second ballot takes place. Where more than two candidates are allowed to progress to the second ballot a majority result cannot necessarily be guaranteed.
Single Transferable Vote (STV) or the Hare SystemSTV is essentially preferential voting in multi-member constituencies. Voters are able to rank as many candidates as they wish (both within parties and across different parties) in order of preference. Any of those candidates who reach a certain quota are deemed to have been elected. The surplus votes of candidates elected on the first count and the votes of those with fewest votes after subsequent counts are distributed on the basis of preferences to the remaining candidates until sufficient candidates reach the quota and are, as a result, elected. It is currently used for legislature elections in Australia, Northern Ireland and Malta.
CondorcetCondorcet's method (1785) is a way of electing representatives in single seat elections. It is a pairwise system where ranked ballots are used to simulate many head-to-head elections. The winner of a Condorcet election is the candidate who wins all pairwise matches.
Approval VotingUnder approval voting, each candidate approved of receives one vote, and the candidate with the most votes wins. Voters can vote for, or approve of, as many candidates as they wish.
Click here for more information about the IPA's balloting services.
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