Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics.
Reason for Voting
In a representative government, voting commonly implies election: a way for an electorate to select among candidates for office. In politics voting is the method by which the electorate of a democracy appoints representatives in its government.
A vote is an individual’s act of voting, by which he or she expresses support or preference for a certain motion (for example, a proposed resolution), a certain candidate, a selection of candidates, or a political party. With a secret ballot to protect voters’ political privacy, voting generally takes place at a polling station. The act of voting is voluntary in some countries; whereas some countries, such as Argentina, Australia, Belgium and Brazil, have compulsory voting systems.
Types of votes
Different voting systems use different types of vote. Suppose that the options in some election are Alice, Bob, Charlie, Dan, and Emily and they are all running for the same position:
In a voting system that uses a single vote, the voter selects his or her most preferred candidate. “Plurality voting systems” use single votes.
A development on the single vote system is to have two-round elections, or repeat first-past-the-post. However, the winner must win by 50% plus one, called a simple majority. If subsequent votes must be used, often a candidate, the one with the fewest votes or anyone who wants to move their support to another candidate, is removed from the ballot.
An alternative to the Two-round voting system is the single round Preferential voting system (Also referred to as Alternative vote or Instant run-off) as used in Australia, Ireland and some states in the USA. Voters rank each candidate in order of preference (1,2,3 etc.). Votes are distributed to each candidate according to the preferences allocated. If no single candidate has 50% or more votes then the candidate with the least votes is excluded and their votes redistributed according to the voters nominated order of preference. The process repeating itself until a candidate has 50% or more votes. The system is designed to produce the same result as an exhaustive ballot but using only a single round of voting.
In a voting system that uses a multiple vote, the voter can vote for any subset of the alternatives. So, a voter might vote for Alice, Bob, and Charlie, rejecting Daniel and Emily. Approval voting uses such multiple votes. In a voting system that uses a ranked vote, the voter has to rank the alternatives in order of preference. For example, they might vote for Bob in first place, then Emily, then Alice, then Daniel, and finally Charlie. Preferential voting systems, such as those famously used in Australia, use a ranked vote.
In a voting system that uses a scored vote (or range vote), the voter gives each alternative a number between one and ten (the upper and lower bounds may vary). See range voting. Some “multiple-winner” systems may have a single vote or one vote per elector per available position. In such a case the elector could vote for Bob and Charlie on a ballot with two votes. These types of systems can use ranked or unranked voting, and are often used for at-large positions such as on some city councils.
Anti voting
Anti-voting is an existing philosophy about why voting under systems with particular qualities is an irrational form of action that has no efficient means of influencing actual decision-makers and power-brokers, the policies they implement and the resulting society that is shaped by said policies and practices.
Anti-voting members are not against the democratic possibility, but instead, disillusioned that an existing one is truly what it claims to be. They often argue that they are more for democracy than the voting public that they feel participates in a system that is fallacious logically and creates a passive sense of accomplishment that is instead empty of power, empty of any direct influence on general social decision making.
Members of the part of the population who find these ideas to be most true often cause strong and emotional reactions in voting publics, and are accused of apathy, nihilism, pessimism and passivity. They are also accused of invoking in those who believe in voting resulting hopelessness, depression and suicidal ideation.
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