Voting System Table
Saturday, 8 June, 2024 10:07 PM
Initial Full name Type of electoral Positives Negatives Currently used in...? How it works
system
FPTP First Past the First Past the Post – - Link with local community - Smaller parties are disadvantaged House of Commons 1 MP would represent a constituency. You vote for 1
Post Electoral Reform - Clear winner in elections and each - Wasted votes Local Council elections candidate and whoever gets a plurality of votes wins
Society – ERS constituency - Seats gained in parliament may not
(electoral- - Easy, understood by the public represent proportionally how many
reform.org.uk) - Transparent people voted for them
STV Single What-is-STV.pdf - Voters have more choice - Rural areas may become part of very Australia You rank all the candidates and place a number on each. The
Transferable (electoral- - Fewer wasted votes large constituencies Malta first choice would get your vote but if no one gets 50% and
vote reform.org.uk) - Still keeps the link with local communities as it - It takes a longer period of time to Scotland your first-choice voter gets knocked out, your second choice
keeps constituencies count the votes gets your vote in a second round. This will continue until a
Single Transferable - More incentives for MPs to campaign and take - Large amounts of candidates in candidate gets 50% of the votes
Vote – Electoral more care of their constituents as there are no constituencies could lead to confusing
Reform Society – ERS safe seats with STV ballot papers
(electoral- - Can lower their trust in the system
reform.org.uk)
SV Supplementary Supplementary Vote – - Simpler than STV - Low proportionality Mayor of London You put an X next to your favourite candidate in 1 column,
Vote Electoral Reform - Less safe seats - Smaller parties don't really benefit and then another X in the 2nd column. If no one gets 50%,
Society – ERS - More choices than FPTP - Could end up with an unpopular only the top 2 will go in the runoff. If your first choice goes
(electoral- - Candidates work harder to get a majority winner (people vote based on who through, the vote would remain the same, if he/she doesn't
reform.org.uk) - Clear winner they hate the least) go through, your vote will go to the second choice candidate
- Wasted votes
AMS Additional Additional Member - More choices - Could weaken local democratic choice London Assembly They use FPTP in the first ballot to pick a proportion of MPs
Member System – Electoral - More proportional - Parties can control the regional lists for Senedd and a number of seats is saved for the 2nd ballot. That group
System Reform Society – ERS - Advantages smaller parties those seats of seats will be allocated to each party based on how the
(electoral- - More views are represented - Has multiple representatives people voted (e.g. Labour gets 20% of the votes, they get
reform.org.uk) - Every vote counts - 2 tier system, coalition 20% of the seats allocated)
- Local link is still there
Party List Party List Proportional - Proportional - No link to local constituencies Netherlands Parties presents a list of candidates ranked in order to the
Representation – - Low barrier to entry - Certain quotas needed to have the Israel electorate and voters will pick the party. Then whatever
Electoral Reform - Smaller parties could be able to win representation may block small parties Spain (Provinces) percentage of votes a party gets is the percentage of how
Society – ERS (e.g. a quota of 5% is needed to be Finland (Provinces) many candidates they get in Parliament. (e.g. a party gets
(electoral- represented in parliament, meaning 20% of the votes, they get 20% of the list from the top of the
reform.org.uk) you can't get 1% of the vote and be in list to the bottom)
Parliament)
03. Electoral Systems Page 1
Saturday, 8 June, 2024 10:07 PM
Initial Full name Type of electoral Positives Negatives Currently used in...? How it works
system
FPTP First Past the First Past the Post – - Link with local community - Smaller parties are disadvantaged House of Commons 1 MP would represent a constituency. You vote for 1
Post Electoral Reform - Clear winner in elections and each - Wasted votes Local Council elections candidate and whoever gets a plurality of votes wins
Society – ERS constituency - Seats gained in parliament may not
(electoral- - Easy, understood by the public represent proportionally how many
reform.org.uk) - Transparent people voted for them
STV Single What-is-STV.pdf - Voters have more choice - Rural areas may become part of very Australia You rank all the candidates and place a number on each. The
Transferable (electoral- - Fewer wasted votes large constituencies Malta first choice would get your vote but if no one gets 50% and
vote reform.org.uk) - Still keeps the link with local communities as it - It takes a longer period of time to Scotland your first-choice voter gets knocked out, your second choice
keeps constituencies count the votes gets your vote in a second round. This will continue until a
Single Transferable - More incentives for MPs to campaign and take - Large amounts of candidates in candidate gets 50% of the votes
Vote – Electoral more care of their constituents as there are no constituencies could lead to confusing
Reform Society – ERS safe seats with STV ballot papers
(electoral- - Can lower their trust in the system
reform.org.uk)
SV Supplementary Supplementary Vote – - Simpler than STV - Low proportionality Mayor of London You put an X next to your favourite candidate in 1 column,
Vote Electoral Reform - Less safe seats - Smaller parties don't really benefit and then another X in the 2nd column. If no one gets 50%,
Society – ERS - More choices than FPTP - Could end up with an unpopular only the top 2 will go in the runoff. If your first choice goes
(electoral- - Candidates work harder to get a majority winner (people vote based on who through, the vote would remain the same, if he/she doesn't
reform.org.uk) - Clear winner they hate the least) go through, your vote will go to the second choice candidate
- Wasted votes
AMS Additional Additional Member - More choices - Could weaken local democratic choice London Assembly They use FPTP in the first ballot to pick a proportion of MPs
Member System – Electoral - More proportional - Parties can control the regional lists for Senedd and a number of seats is saved for the 2nd ballot. That group
System Reform Society – ERS - Advantages smaller parties those seats of seats will be allocated to each party based on how the
(electoral- - More views are represented - Has multiple representatives people voted (e.g. Labour gets 20% of the votes, they get
reform.org.uk) - Every vote counts - 2 tier system, coalition 20% of the seats allocated)
- Local link is still there
Party List Party List Proportional - Proportional - No link to local constituencies Netherlands Parties presents a list of candidates ranked in order to the
Representation – - Low barrier to entry - Certain quotas needed to have the Israel electorate and voters will pick the party. Then whatever
Electoral Reform - Smaller parties could be able to win representation may block small parties Spain (Provinces) percentage of votes a party gets is the percentage of how
Society – ERS (e.g. a quota of 5% is needed to be Finland (Provinces) many candidates they get in Parliament. (e.g. a party gets
(electoral- represented in parliament, meaning 20% of the votes, they get 20% of the list from the top of the
reform.org.uk) you can't get 1% of the vote and be in list to the bottom)
Parliament)
03. Electoral Systems Page 1
