Equally Weighted Vote: Difference between revisions
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m (→Equal Vote Criterion: At the request of Mark Frohnmayer I've changed the section on Equality Criterion to put that name as the primary name and the alternative name, Equal Vote Criterion, as the secondary option to reflect a desire to become more consistent with this terminology across materials.) |
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An Equally Weighted Vote is the concept that every vote should carry equal power or weight. In 1964, [https://www.oyez.org/cases/1963/22 Wesberry v. Sanders]
Votes can be unequally weighted at a number of different stages in the election process. First, a vote can be unequal due to the voting method itself. Any voting method which allows [[Vote-splitting|Vote Splitting]] ensures that voters do not have an equally weighted vote in elections which have more than two candidates. Second, votes for representatives to a larger geographical area who are representing a district within that area can be unequally weighted due to district lines which may bias an election in favor of one faction or another. When district lines are intentionally drawn in order to marginalize specific factions, (reducing the weight of those voters relative to others) it's known as [[Gerrymandering]].
The [[Electoral College]] and other mechanisms which use representatives to determine elections rather than directly using the votes cast also violate the Equally Weighted Vote
The 1964, [https://www.starvoting.us/equal_vote Wesberry v. Sanders]case cited above addressed Gerrymandering. In the case of district lines it's impossible to ensure that elections will not favor one faction or the other over time as populations grow and change, but it is "practicable" to prevent and mitigate this phenomena. However in the case of vote splitting and the Electoral Collage achieving a perfectly Equally Weighted Vote is fully possible.
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=== The Test of Balance ===
The Test of Balance is defined as the following: "A voting method definitively provides votes of equal weight to all the voters if, and only if, for each possible ''vote expression'' that one voter may cast in an election, there exists another expression of the vote that another voter can cast that is in balance, such that the outcome of the election is the same whether both or neither votes are counted." In short, "Any way I vote, you should be able to vote in an equal and opposite fashion
=== Voting methods which ensure an Equally Weighted Vote ===
Voting Methods which ensure an Equally Weighted Vote with any number of candidates include Approval Voting, Score Voting, STAR Voting, as well as a number of others. In general Cardinal Voting methods ensure an Equally Weighted Vote for each voter. Many Condorcet methods (most that can be calculated only with the [[Pairwise counting|pairwise counting]] matrix, most Condorcet-cardinal hybrids, etc.) also pass the criterion.
Choose One Plurality Voting does not satisfy the Equal Vote Criterion. Instant Runoff Voting (often referred to as Ranked Choice Voting) does not satisfy the
=== '''Vote unitarity''' ===
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