How does the STV electoral system work?
Using the STV electoral system, each voter has more than one vote but rather than placing one ‘X’ next to the candidate of their choice, the voter is asked to rank the candidates in order of preference eg 1, 2, 3 etc. The voter can vote for as many candidates as they wish or can choose to vote for only one (rank 1).
What is STV and how does it work?
Under STV, an elector (voter) has a single vote that is initially allocated to their most preferred candidate. Votes are totalled, and a quota (the number of votes required to win a seat) derived.
How does the single transferable vote work?
Single transferable vote. The system provides approximately proportional representation while mostly ensuring that the party with the most votes gets the most seats and that minorities have some representation; enables votes to be cast for individual candidates rather than for parties and party machine-controlled party lists,...
What is wrong with the STV method of voting?
The STV method can be confusing, and may cause some people to vote incorrectly with respect to their actual preferences. STV ballots can also be long; having multiple pages increases the chances of people not marking back-up preferences and thus missing later opportunities to have their vote transferred.
What type of voting system is STV?
The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a form of preferential voting in multi-member constituencies. Preferential voting means that instead of casting a single vote for a single candidate, a voter can express a list of preferences.
How is STV calculated?
Each winner's surplus votes transfer to other candidates according to their remaining preferences, using a formula (p/t)*s, where s is a number of surplus votes to be transferred, t is a total number of transferable votes (that have a second preference) and p is a number of second preferences for the given candidate.
Who uses STV voting?
Scottish Local Government Elections are conducted under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system. This means you should rank the candidates in order of your preference. Electors are advised to vote using numbers as follows: Number the candidates in the order of your choice.
What is the quota in STV?
In an STV election the quota is the minimum number of votes a candidate must receive in order to be elected. Any votes a candidate receives above the quota are transferred to another candidate.
How does additional member system work?
The additional member system (AMS) is a mixed electoral system under which most representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and the other "additional members" are elected to make the seat distribution in the chamber more proportional to the way votes are cast for party lists.
How does the single transferable vote work in the UK?
In an STV local government by-election the number of stages is related to the number of candidates who are on the ballot paper and will continue stage by stage until there are two candidates left and the one with the most votes transferred is elected.
What are the 3 different types of voting systems?
According to a 2006 survey of electoral system experts, their preferred electoral systems were in order of preference: Mixed member proportional. Single transferable vote. Open list proportional.
What countries use PR STV?
The most widely used families of PR electoral systems are party-list PR, used in 85 countries, mixed-member PR (MMP), used in 7 countries, and single transferable vote (STV), used in Ireland, Malta and Australian Senate.
Why does Northern Ireland use STV?
STV was introduced to provide better representation for those who supported other parties. In Assembly elections, voters can show support for a number of parties and constituents have a choice of MLAs and parties to approach for assistance.
What does a quota of votes mean?
What is the quota? The quota is the number of votes a candidate needs to be certain of election. The quota is calculated using the formula: (total number of formal votes / (number of candidates to be elected + 1)) + 1 (disregarding any remainder or fraction)
How do you use ranked choice voting?
How does Ranked Choice Voting work? You can rank up to five candidates in order of preference, instead of choosing just one. If a candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, they are the winner. If no candidate earns more than 50% of first-choice votes, then counting will continue in rounds.
What does quota mean in an election?
An electoral quota is an election threshold.
How do you calculate preferential voting?
Distributing preferences Formal votes received by each candidate are counted according to where the voter placed number "1" for each candidate. In this example there are 100 000 formal votes. The absolute majority is more than 50% of the total formal votes cast, i.e. 50 001 votes.
How does STV work in Northern Ireland?
The system used in Northern Ireland is called the Single Transferable Vote (STV). It is a form of Proportional Representation (PR). Every voter has only one vote, but they can ask for it to be transferred from one candidate to another to make sure it is not wasted.
How does Mixed Member Proportional work?
Seats in the legislature are filled first by the successful constituency candidates, and second, by party candidates based on the percentage of nationwide or region-wide votes that each party received.
What is Single Transferable vote in Presidential election?
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot.
What is the Single Transferable Vote?
The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a form of proportional representation created in Britain. Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Malta, Scotland and Australia use this system for some or all of their elections. In America, it is often referred to as ‘ranked-choice voting in multi-member seats’, in Australia they call it ‘Hare-Clark’.
How many votes does a voter have to cast to get a quota?
The people counting the votes work out the quota based on the number of vacancies and the number of votes cast. Each voter has one vote. Once the counting has finished, any candidate who has more number ones than the quota is elected.
Why are constituencies more natural?
Constituencies are more natural, covering a whole town or a county. This creates a recognisable local link, and gives voters a choice of representatives to talk to.
How many MPs are there in a constituency?
Rather than having 3 single-member constituencies next to each other, you have one bigger constituency that elects 3 MPs. To better fit the natural, administrative and locally recognised boundaries, some of the new multi-member constituencies elect 3 and some 4 MPS. Constituencies designed by Lewis Baston.
What happens if no one reaches the quota?
If no one reaches the quota, then the people counting the vote remove the least popular candidate. People who voted for them have their votes moved to their second favourite candidate. This process continues until every vacancy is filled.
What do you put numbers next to in an election?
Their favourite as number one, their second favourite number two, and so on. Voters can put numbers next to as many or as few candidates as they like. Parties will often stand more than one candidate in each area.
Can voters choose between candidates?
Voters can also choose between candidates from the same party or different parties. This means voters can elect all MPs based on their individual abilities.
How to calculate surplus transfer value?
The surplus transfer value is calculated by dividing the number of votes above quota by the total number of votes that candidate had when they were elected. The SNP’s first placed candidate had 446 of their 2504 votes as surplus – so all votes transfer with a value of 0.178.
How many councillors are there in Pollokshields?
Pollokshields elects 4 councillors, and there were a total of 10288 valid first preference votes. Applying the formula above, that means the quota to be elected is 2058 votes.
What happens when a candidate is eliminated?
When it comes to transferring votes, there is a bit of a difference between what happens when a candidate is eliminated and when they are elected. Eliminations are simple – all votes simply move to their next preference. Surplus votes on the other hand only transfer as a portion of a whole vote.
What happens when a candidate has more votes than they needed to win?
This can be when a candidate has more votes than they needed to win, in which case the surplus is transferred. Or, more familiarly, it can be when no remaining candidate has enough votes to be elected, so the lowest ranked candidate is removed and their votes transferred.
What happens if you eliminate one Labour candidate?
No surprises that if you eliminate one Labour candidate, most of their votes transfer to the other. That catapults the first Labour candidate over the quota, meaning we’ve now elected 3 of 4 councillors for the ward. There’s one seat left to go, and a surplus to transfer that could make the difference.
Which party received the biggest boost from UKIP?
Similar to Conservative transfers, the Lib Dems received the biggest boost from UKIP, followed by Labour – but exhausted ballots were the biggest individual chunk. There weren’t enough votes here to take anyone to quota anyway, so we’re still on 2 of 4 councillors elected, and need to eliminate another candidate. This time that will be the Lib Dems.
What stage did the Green vote in?
However, remember this round is just the machine being thorough, and it doesn’t really mean anything – the Green was guaranteed election at stage 7. Even if they hadn’t made quota here, they would have been elected as last candidate standing.
How do you decide who is elected as a councillor?
To decide which of the candidates are elected as councillors, each candidate must achieve a certain percentage of the vote. If this does not happen, the candidate with the lowest number of votes drops out and their votes are redistributed according to these voters second choice. If a candidate achieves the required percentage of the vote they are then elected. This process is repeated until all councillors are elected.
What is STV in Scotland?
The Single Transferable Vote in Scotland (STV) Elections to Scottish local government (councils) use an electoral system called the Single Transferable Vote (STV). STV was first used in Scotland in 2007.
What is greater voting choice?
Greater voting choice: Voters can rank order the candidates giving them more choice. They can choose within parties and between parties.
Which is more likely to be a coalition or a STV?
Coalitions more likely: As most parties gain representation under STV usually councils are run by a several parties together in a coalition which can make decision making harder.
How many councillors are there in a ward?
For the purposes of the election, council areas are divided into wards. Each ward elects four or five councillors.
Which is more proportional, AMS or AMS?
Proportionality: System is more proportional than AMS and First Part the Post.
How does STV work?
To do this, STV requires that you fill out a ranked ballot, sorting the candidates from most- to least-liked. To start with, everyone's #1 choice gets 1 vote, and the scores are summed. It's possible depending on the votes and the threshold for winning (which varies depending on the type of STV in use) that one person has enough votes to win. If they do and this is a single-seat election, that's it. If not:
What happens if you have multiple votes in the election?
If there is a winner but the election is for multiple seats, the person who is over the threshold wins one of the seats. However, they might have more votes than they needed, and STV doesn't like wasting votes. It takes as many votes as it can from the winner (without dropping them under the threshold) and redistributes them to the remaining candidates (how this redistribution is decided also varies depending on the type of STV). This is why the voters need to select multiple options. Then we go back to the top and see if another person has crossed the threshold
What is STV in Stack Exchange?
You can see many examples of STV on Stack Exchange itself -- Meek STV is used to decide moderator elections. STV avoids many of the problems with plurality voting (see What are the disadvantages of first-past-the-post electoral systems? ), while still remaining relatively simple. It's not even necessary to fill out the entire ballot (Stack Exchange only requires you select your top three choices), although with a large enough election or poor enough choices you run the risk of your vote not counting because none of your candidates made it to the end
What happens if there are empty seats?
If there are still empty seats but nobody has enough votes to win one, we eliminate the person in last place and redistribute 100% of their votes to the remaining candidates, just like we do with the excess votes for the winner. Then we see if anybody has won
What is a single transferable vote?
The single transferable vote (STV) is a system where you can vote for more than one option at the same time, but in a ranked fashion.
How many voting rounds are there in STV?
In a traditional standard majority system, you would have had to organize three distinctive election rounds while with STV you could do it all with one ballot and one voting round.
