Electoral system: Difference between revisions

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An '''electoral system''' or '''voting systems''' or '''election method''' is a ~~method~~ for groups of people to select one or more options from many, taking into account the individual preferences of the group members, or more generally to find society's preference among all the candidates (1st place, 2nd place, etc.). Voting is often seen as the defining feature of democracy, and is best known for its use in elections — but it can also be used to award prizes, to select between different plans of action, or as a means for computer programs to evaluate which solution is best for a complex problem.

An '''electoral system''' (also referred to as a '''voting systems''' or '''election method''') is a system for groups of people to select one or more options from many, taking into account the individual preferences of the group members, or more generally to find society's preference among all the candidates (1st place, 2nd place, etc.). Voting is often seen as the defining feature of democracy, and is best known for its use in public elections — but it can also be used to award prizes, to select between different plans of action, or as a means for computer programs to evaluate which solution is best for a complex problem.

A key property of ~~voting~~ systems is that, because they are algorithms, they must be formally defined. ~~Consensus, for~~ example, ~~which~~ is sometimes put forward as a voting system, is ~~more~~ ~~properly~~ a broad way of working with others, analogous to democracy or anarchy.

A key property of electoral systems is that, because they are algorithms, they must be formally defined. For example, [[consensus]] is sometimes put forward as a voting system. But consensus is a broad way of working with others, analogous to democracy or anarchy.

Most of voting theory can be thought of as deciding whether and how voters should be allowed to express their [[Ballot|preference]] on more than one candidate, who should win when there isn't a clearly best candidate, and deciding whether elements of [[proportional representation]] are desirable.