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Spoiler effect: Difference between revisions
Copied first two paragraphs from wikipedia:Spoiler effect section of the wikipedia:Vote splitting article (this revision in particular: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vote_splitting&oldid=975349242 ). I plan to incorporate this a little bit better
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(Copied first two paragraphs from wikipedia:Spoiler effect section of the wikipedia:Vote splitting article (this revision in particular: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vote_splitting&oldid=975349242 ). I plan to incorporate this a little bit better) |
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{{see-wp}}The '''spoiler effect''' is the effect of vote splitting between candidates or ballot questions{{#tag:ref|Examples are the [[first past the post electoral system]] and in [[single transferable vote]] or similar systems with a first-preference votes [[winning percentage]].|group=n}} who often have similar ideologies. One '''spoiler candidate'''{{'s}} presence in the election draws votes from a major candidate with similar politics, thereby causing a strong opponent of both or several to win.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Buchler|first=Justin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bzmTImCLfgC|title=Hiring and Firing Public Officials: Rethinking the Purpose of Elections|date=2011-04-20|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=9780199759965|location=|pages=|language=en|quote=a spoiler effect occurs when entry by a third-party candidate causes party A to defeat party B even though Party B would have won in a two-candidate race.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=King|first=Bridgett A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-bCJDAAAQBAJ|title=Why Don't Americans Vote? Causes and Consequences: Causes and Consequences|last2=Hale|first2=Kathleen|date=2016-07-11|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781440841163|location=|pages=|language=en|quote=Those votes that are cast for minor party candidates are perceived as taking away pivotal votes from major party candidates. ... This phenomenon is known as the 'spoiler effect'.}}</ref><ref name="Borgers">{{Cite book|last=Borgers|first=Christoph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_XMHD4shnQC|title=Mathematics of Social Choice: Voting, Compensation, and Division|date=2010-01-01|publisher=SIAM|isbn=9780898716955|location=|pages=|language=en|quote=Candidates C and D spoiled the election for B ... With them in the running, A won, whereas without them in the running, B would have won. ... Instant runoff voting ... does ''not'' do away with the spoiler problem entirely, although it ... makes it less likely}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Heckelman|first=Jac C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KrckCwAAQBAJ|title=Handbook of Social Choice and Voting|last2=Miller|first2=Nicholas R.|date=2015-12-18|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=9781783470730|location=|pages=|language=en|quote=A spoiler effect occurs when a single party or a candidate entering an election changes the outcome to favor a different candidate.}}</ref> The minor candidate causing this effect is referred to as a ''spoiler''.{{#tag:ref|A term designed to appeal to a wider section of the public as a result of the widespread, often national support of [[political party|political parties]].|group=n}} However, short of any [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud electoral fraud], this presents no grounds for a legal challenge.
{{see-wp}}The spoiler effect can broadly be thought of as a situation where, when a particular candidate or set of candidate(s) are running, some candidate not in the set (call him X) wins, but when that particular set of candidate(s) aren't running, some different candidate who's also not in the set wins (call him Y). The [[Independence of irrelevant alternatives]] article has more information on this broad interpretation of the spoiler effect.▼
The spoiler effect is a problem in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_voting_system plurality voting systems] because they enable a candidate to win with less than half of the vote.
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In some sense, much of [[Voting theory|voting theory]] is really just an attempt to mitigate the effects of various things that might be considered "spoiler effects". For example, [[Condorcet method|Condorcet methods]] and many [[Rated method|rated methods]] attempt to elect a candidate who can beat all other candidates in a [[Pairwise counting|head-to-head matchup]] (assuming voters cast the same ballots no matter which candidates are in the race); this arguably reduces the ability of losing candidates to drop out to impact the race.
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