Electoral Systems

An electoral system can be referred to as the manner in which elections are conducted or the method by which votes are counted. Single-winner and multi-winner systems are the methods by which elections are conducted. Plurality, majority, ranked-choice voting, etc. are the methods by which votes are tallied. Similar to voting methods, electoral systems vary across the country.

Single-winner Systems

Most U.S. districts follow the winner-take-all system and are called single-winner districts. In this system, an area is divided into a number of voting districts, each represented by a single elected official. Single-winner districts often have the plurality voting system in which the candidate who polls more votes than any other candidate is elected. Voters can only indicate one vote on their ballot. The plurality voting system can be said to be more democratic than the Electoral college because every vote truly does count.

However, there are two main weaknesses with the plurality voting system. The first one is that it is susceptible to the negative effects of gerrymandering. Part of the reason why gerrymandering is so widespread is because of the setup of the single-winner system where voting districts are divided geographically. The geographic boundaries of the district heavily influence who will win the election. Another weakness is the spoiler effect. Three or more viable candidates run and split the vote. When this happens, the winner of the election can often be the candidate that the majority of voters liked least. In this case, a candidate can still win even if he or she has received less than half of the vote. Due to this, political parties limit the number of candidates running for a position. This solution may counter the spoiler effect, but it prevents voters from fully picking the candidates since they are already picked by the political parties. Plurality voting systems also encourage the growth of a two-party system, a phenomenon known as Duverger's Law.

Majority voting systems are slightly better and stipulate that a candidate must win at least 50% of the vote in order to win the election. If no candidate wins an outright majority then a runoff election is held between the top two candidates. That is why majority systems are sometimes called two-round systems. Majority systems are like plurality systems in that they rely on single-member districts and allow voters to cast only one vote on their ballot.

Single-winner districts are associated with:

• Smaller districts that have a closer link between representatives and constituents.

• Two-party systems

• A lack of proportionality between votes cast across the country for a party and the actual seats won by the party.

• Governing by single-party majorities.

• Fewer women elected to the legislature.

Multi-winner Systems

While multi-winner systems are not as common as single-winner systems, they still are said to be widely used. 11 state chambers and a majority of municipalities use some form of multi-winner systems. In these systems multiple candidates are elected to an office. Block voting is a specific class of multi-winner systems where a voter selects as many candidates as there are open seats. Think of elections for at-large city council seats. If there are four seats available, voters are asked to select up to four choices on their ballots. The four candidates who received the highest number of votes are elected. Single vote systems are when voters can select one candidate, regardless of the number of open seats. Cumulative voting allows voters to cast a number of votes equal to the number of seats up for election. A voter has flexibility in deciding how to vote since they can allocate all their votes to one candidate or distribute them among several candidates. Most of these forms of “limited voting” are seen at the local level to elect city councils, school boards, and other local offices.

Multi-winner systems are advantageous since they can subvert the effects of gerrymandering and prevent the spoiler effect. They accomplish this by ensuring that geography is not the main criterion for representation and by using proportional representation or ranked choice voting. Proportional representation is when offices are allocated to candidates and parties in proportion to their share of the total vote. This methods attempts to make the percentage of offices awarded to candidates reflects as accurately as possible the percentage of votes received in the election. It is the most widely used set of electoral systems in the world. Ranked choice voting is exactly what it sounds like: a system in which voters rank the candidates.

Multi-winner districts are associated with:

• Larger and more populated districts

• Districts with multiple parties and candidates

• Legislatures that more proportionately reflect voters' political preferences.

• Governing by a coalition of parties

• Election of more women to the legislature

Representation

In a democracy, legislatures should accurately reflect the diversity of the voters they represent. This is not the case, though, in the U.S. Many racial and ethnic minorities, women, and third party voters lack fair representation in government. This is partly due to the significant influence of America's racist and discriminatory past on our current society, but it is also due to the electoral structures in play.

As mentioned previously, single-winner districts are associated with a lack of elected women. Numerous comparative studies by American and international scholars have found that women are best represented in proportional systems with multi-winner districts. There are two reasons for this trend: voters tend to balance tickets and political parties attempt to appeal to as many voters as possible. In multi-winner environments, voters are more likely to vote for both male and female candidates to balance their choices. Parties, therefore, have more incentive to run more female candidates.

Proportional ranked choice voting in multi-winner districts is considered one of the best systems to achieve fair representation. Voters are able to rank candidates in order of choice which maximizes the effectiveness of every vote and minimizes wasted votes. Voters also have more choices. Proportional ranked choice voting emphasizes on the candidates, allows voters to express their honest preferences on ballots, and encourages positive campaigning and coalition-building.

Votes are counted in a series of rounds which ensures that as few votes as possible are wasted. There are two options for each round. One, a winning candidate is identified and the votes they received in excess are transferred to voters' next choices. For example, if a candidate has 10% or more votes than the election threshold (how many votes are needed to guarantee a victory), the voters who voted for that candidate will have 10% of their vote count for their next choice. A second scenario is that no candidate has more votes than the election threshold. In this case, the candidate in last place is eliminated and the votes for that candidate are transferred to voters' next choices. Multiple rounds will take place until each seat is filled. Below is a flowchart that illustrates the process.

Proportional ranked choice voting in multi-winner districts prevents the negative effects of gerrymandering and the spoiler effect as well as provide more representation to minorities and women. Thus, it is clear that there is a need for reform in our electoral system. Under the common single-winner system, the population of America is not fully represented.

References

Balotpedia. (n.d.). Electoral system. Ballotpedia. https://ballotpedia.org/Electoral_system

Fair Vote. (n.d.). Electoral systems in the United States. Fair Vote.

https://www.fairvote.org/research_electoralsystemsus

Fair Vote (n.d.). Proportion ranked choice voting example. Fair Vote. https://www.fairvote.org/multi_winner_rcv_example

Fair Vote. (n.d). Representation. Fair Vote. https://www.fairvote.org/research_representation#women_s_representation

King, C. (2000). Electoral systems. Georgetown University. https://faculty.georgetown.edu/kingch/Electoral_Systems.htm