Voting

"Vote" and "Voter" redirect here. For other uses, see Vote (disambiguation) and Voter (disambiguation).

Voting is the process of choosing one or more officials or representatives by casting an oral vote or a ballot, a document that formally expresses voter's preference or preferences as to whom should be elected or whom the voter likes and thinks has best chance to be elected. Voting can also be used to decide on policy usually by a majority but sometimes a super-majority is required. In Republics and representative democracies, a portion of the population votes to choose representative government members.

Clockwise from top left: ballot for a referendum in Panama, ballot box for a French election, women voting in Bangladesh, an electronic voting machine in Brazil, a sign at a United States voting location, election inking on a man's finger in Afghanistan

Electoral systems, the procedure for converting votes cast into winners, vary depending on both the country and the political office. In many countries organizations work to reform the election system, usually to make it fairer and ensure that as many votes as possible are used to elect the winners.

In organizations and non-government settings, voting may occur in different ways: formally via a paper vote to elect others for example within a workplace, to elect members of political associations, or to choose roles for others; or informally with a spoken agreement or a raised hand or other gesture. In larger organizations, like countries, voting is generally confined to periodic elections.

All modern liberal democracies use voting by secret ballot to prevent individuals from becoming influenced by other people and to protect their political privacy. The objective of secret ballots is to try to achieve the most authentic outcome, without any risk of pressure, threat, or services linked to one's vote; this way, a person is able to express their actual preferences.

Voting often takes place at a polling station but voting can also be done remotely by mail or using internet voting (such as in Estonia). Voting is voluntary in some countries, like the UK, but it may be required by law in others, such as Australia.

Various types of ballots

Different voting systems use different ballot designs. Some ballots allow only one choice to be selected (single X voting); some ballots allow multiple choices to be selected (multiple X voting); some allow ranking of multiple options (Ranked ballots, either to be used as back-up preferences or used in conjunction with the first preference.

Different voting systems allow each voter to cast a different number of votes - only one (single voting as in First-past-the-post voting, Single non-transferable voting and Single transferable voting); as many as are being elected in a multiple-member district (multiple voting as used in Plurality block voting; more than one but fewer than are being elected in a multiple-member district (Limited voting). Most allow a voter to put just one vote on each candidate, but cumulative voting allows a voter's votes to be piled on to one candidate.

With ranked voting, as used in instant-runoff voting system in some elections in Australia and the United States, and single transferable voting used in Ireland, Malta and other places, voters rank candidates in order of preference (1,2,3,4 etc.). Votes are distributed to each candidate according to the first preferences.

In the Quota Borda System (QBS),^[1] the voters also cast their preferences, 1,2,3,4... as they wish.

In a voting system that uses multiple votes (Plurality block voting), the voter can vote for any subset of the running candidates. 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 ranks the candidates in order of preference. For example, they might mark a preference for Bob in the first place, then Emily, then Alice, then Daniel, and finally Charlie. Ranked voting systems, such as those used in Australia and Ireland, 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 cardinal voting systems.

Some multiple-winner systems such as the Single Non-Transferable Vote, SNTV, used in Afghanistan and Vanuatu give a single vote or one vote per elector even though multiple members are being elected in the district.

STV uses single ranked votes.

block voting are often used for at-large positions such as members of city councils.

Under cumulative voting, a voter casts multiple votes and can cast more than one vote for the same candidate.

The Condorcet rule is used (sometimes) in decision-making. The voters or elected representatives cast their preferences on one, some, or all options, 1,2,3,4... as in PR-STV or QBS.

Women's suffrage

Suffrage poster, 1920

This section is an excerpt from Women's suffrage.[edit]

Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Historically, women rarely had the right to vote, even in ostensibly democratic systems of government.^[2] This shifted in the late 19th century when women's suffrage was accomplished in Australasia, then Europe, and then the Americas.^[3][2] By the middle of the 20th century, women's suffrage had been established as a norm of democratic governance.^[2] Extended political campaigns by women and their male supporters played an important role in changing public attitude, altering norms, and achieving legislation or constitutional amendments for women's suffrage.^[2]

The first wave of women's suffrage took place 1893–1930, covering English-speaking countries, Scandinavian states, and some other parts of Europe.^[2] The experience of the First World War has been characterized as an important factor in shifting public support for women's suffrage.^[4] The second wave, 1930-1970, covered nearly all Latin-American countries, much of Sub-Saharan Africa and some European laggards (France, Spain, Belgium).^[2]

Pitcairn Island allowed women to vote for its councils in 1838.^[5] Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was in effect during the Age of Liberty (1718–1772), as well as in Revolutionary and early-independence New Jersey (1776–1807) in the US.^[6][7] The Kingdom of Hawai'i, which originally had universal suffrage in 1840, rescinded this in 1852 and was subsequently annexed by the United States in 1898. In the years after 1869, a number of provinces held by the British and Russian empires conferred women's suffrage, and some of these became sovereign nations at a later point, like New Zealand, Australia, and Finland. Several states and territories of the United States, such as Wyoming (1869) and Utah (1870), also granted women the right to vote. Women who owned property gained the right to vote in the Isle of Man in 1881, and in 1893, women in the then self-governing^[8] British colony of New Zealand were granted the right to vote. In Australia, the colony of South Australia granted women the right to vote and stand for parliament in 1895^[9][10] while the Australian Federal Parliament conferred the right to vote and stand for election in 1902 (although it allowed for the exclusion of "aboriginal natives").^[11][12] Prior to independence, in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, women gained equal suffrage, with both the right to vote and to stand as candidates in 1906.^[13][14][15] National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts towards women voting, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (founded in 1904 in Berlin, Germany).^[16]

Most major Western powers extended voting rights to women by the interwar period, including Canada (1917), Germany (1918), the United Kingdom (1918 for women over 30 who met certain property requirements, 1928 for all women), Austria, the Netherlands (1919) and the United States (1920).^[17] Notable exceptions in Europe were France, where women could not vote until 1944, Greece (equal voting rights for women did not exist there until 1952, although, since 1930, literate women were able to vote in local elections), and Switzerland (where, since 1971, women could vote at the federal level, and between 1959 and 1990, women got the right to vote at the local canton level).

In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before universal suffrage for men; for instance, literate women or property owners were granted suffrage before all men received it. The United Nations encouraged women's suffrage in the years following World War II, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) identifies it as a basic right with 189 countries currently being parties to this convention.

Referendums

People can sometimes vote in referendums and initiatives. Since the end of the eighteenth century, more than five hundred national referendums (including initiatives) were held in the world. More than three hundred were held in Switzerland.^[18] Australia has also held dozens of referendums.

Most referendums are binary, a yes or no quetiton. The first multi-option referendum was held in New Zealand in 1894. Most multi-option referendums are conducted under a two-round system. New Zealand had a five-option referendum in 1992, while Guam had a six-option plebiscite in 1982, which also offered a blank option, for voters who wanted to (campaign and) vote for a seventh option.

Proxy voting

Main article: Proxy voting

Proxy voting is a form of voting in which a registered citizen who can legally vote passes on his or her vote to a different voter or electorate who will vote in his stead. This is sometimes confused with liquid democracy.

Anti-voting

Main articles: Abstention and Abstentionism

In South Africa, poor citizens have conducted anti-voting campaigns. They made the structural argument that no political party truly represented them. This resulted in the "No Land! No House! No Vote!" campaign, which was prominent each time the country held elections.^[19][20] The campaign was supported by three of South Africa's largest social movements: the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Abahlali baseMjondolo, and the Landless Peoples Movement.

Other social movements in other parts of the world also have had similar campaigns or non-voting preferences. These include the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and various anarchist-oriented movements.

Some of those who are required to vote merely spoil their vote. Others make a blank vote, carrying out the act of voting, which may be compulsory, without selecting any candidate or option, often as an act of protest. In some jurisdictions, there is an official none of the above option and it is counted as a valid vote. Usually, blank and null votes are counted (together or separately) but are not considered valid.

Voting and information

Modern political science has questioned whether average citizens have sufficient political knowledge to cast meaningful votes. A series of studies coming out of the University of Michigan in the 1950s and 1960s argued that many voters lack a basic understanding of current issues, the liberal–conservative ideological dimension, and the relative ideological dilemma that are important to understand when making political decisions.^[21] Studies from other institutions have suggested that the physical appearance of candidates is a criterion upon which voters base their decision.^[22][23] Voting advice applications can increase political knowledge enabling to cast informed votes.^[24]

Religious views

Christadelphians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Old Order Amish, Rastafarians, the Assemblies of Yahweh, and some other religious groups, have a policy of not participating in politics and this extends to voting.^[25][26] Rabbis from all Jewish denominations encourage voting and some even consider it a religious obligation.^[27] The Catholic Church teaches that it is morally obligatory to vote.^[28]

Meetings and gatherings

Whenever several people who do not all agree need to make some decision, voting and a form of election is a common way of reaching a decision peacefully. The right to vote is usually restricted to certain people. Members of a society or club, or shareholders of a company, but not outsiders, may elect its officers, or adopt or change its rules, in a similar way to the election of people to official positions. A panel of judges, either formal judicial authorities or judges of the competition, may decide by voting. A group of friends or members of a family may decide which film to see by voting. The method of voting can range from formal submission of written votes, through show of hands, voice voting or audience response systems, to informal noting which outcome seems to be preferred by more people.

In deliberative assemblies

Main article: Voting methods in deliberative assemblies

Some votes are carried out in person if all the people eligible to vote are present. This could be by a show of hands or keypad polling.

Deliberative assemblies—bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions—use several methods when voting on motions (formal proposals by a member or members of a deliberative assembly). The regular methods of voting in such bodies are a voice vote, a rising vote, and a show of hands. Additional forms of voting include a recorded vote and balloting. The assembly can decide on the voting method by adopting a motion on it.

Voting methods

"Voting method" redirects here; not to be confused with Electoral system.

Paper-based methods

Young woman's first vote. Cooktown, Australia.

The most common voting method uses paper ballots on which voters either place an X or mark their preferences as in [[ranked votes|ranked voting. This may involve marking their support for a candidate or party whose identification is printed on the ballot, or a write-in where they write out the name of their preferred candidate (if it is not listed).

Ballot letters in Israel

An alternative method that is still paper-based known as ballot letters is used in Israel, where polling booths contain a tray with ballots for each party running in the elections; the ballots are marked with the letter(s) assigned to that party. Voters are given an envelope into which they put the ballot of the party they wish to vote for, before placing the envelope in the ballot box. The same system is also implemented in Latvia. The system is used commonly in open lists or primary elections, where voters must choose a single party whose candidates they are allowed to choose between.

In 19th century western Canada the "Oliver ballot" was used, where the voter was given a blank ballot and a range of colored pencils. He put a mark on the ballot with the pencil of the color of his preferred candidate.^[29]

Machine voting

Main articles: Voting machine and Electronic voting

Machine voting uses voting machines, which may be manual (e.g. lever machines) or electronic.^[30]

Online voting

Some countries allow people to vote online. Estonia was one of the first countries to use online voting: it was first used in their 2005 local elections.^[31]

Postal voting

Many countries allow postal voting, where voters are sent a ballot and return it by post.

Open ballot

In contrast to a secret ballot, an open ballot takes place in public and is commonly done by a show of hands. An example is the Landsgemeinde system in Switzerland, which is still in use in the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Glarus, Grisons, and Schwyz.

Other methods

In Gambia, voting is carried out using marbles. The method was introduced in 1965 to deal with illiteracy.^[32] Polling stations contain metal drums painted in party colours and emblems with candidates' photos attached to them.^[33][32] Voters are given a marble to place in the drum of their chosen candidate; when dropped into the drum, a bell sounds to register the vote. To avoid confusion, bicycles are banned near polling booths on election day.^[32] If the marble is left on top of the drum rather than placed in it, the vote is deemed invalid.^[34]

A similar system used in social clubs sees voters given a white ball to indicate support and a black ball to indicate opposition. Secretly, each voter places the ball of choice into a receptacle, and then the resulting distribution of balls is counted at the end of the voting period, often with one black ball being enough to decide against the prospective member Thus was coined the term blackballing.

See also

• Ranked voting
• Vote splitting
• Voter turnout
• Voting age
• Voting bloc
• Voting methods in deliberative assemblies
• Voting system
• Class voting
• Cosmopolitan democracy
• Demeny voting
• Democratic mundialization
• Dollar voting
• Electoral fraud
• Electoral system
• Ranked voting systems
• Gerrymandering
• List of suffragists and suffragettes
• Mandate (politics)
• Opinion poll
• Political base
• Presidential election
• Proportional representation
• Psephology
• Redistricting
• Referendum
• Right of expatriates to vote in their country of origin
• Right to candidacy
• Single transferable vote
• Suffrage
• Suffragette
• Timeline of women's suffrage
• Universal suffrage