CPO Study Guide This contains all of the notes from class and the book At the end there are also questions and answers from previous tests we have had Enjoy And good luck on this test Chapter 13 Elections and Electoral Systems Classify Democracies elections are fundamental to all demo electoral system set of laws that regulate electoral competition between candidates or parties or both Electoral formula determines how votes are translated into seats district magnitude of seats allocated to each district in single member districts DM 1 o o This can range from 1 to 100 in nationwide Multimember distinct means there are more than one representative elected from district Majoritarian electoral system is one which the candidates parties that receive the most votes win plurality option that gets most votes Absolute majority option that gets 50 1 of votes qualified majority most receive greater than 50 Unanimous is the option that wins the support of all voters Majoritarian Electoral geographic constituencies are central to all majoritarian determines the universe of the applicable majority o MS are candidate centre o voters select individuals rather than parties High on identifiable SMPD systems single members district plurality SMPD system voters cast a single vote for a candidate in district ex UK India Canada Nigeria US Congress refers to competition for one seat o o o Advantages straightforward identifiable represent candidates incentivized to appeal to median voter Disadvantage absolute majority necessary unrepresentative outcomes voters who favored another candidate out of luck encourage strategic voting voter avoid wasting their vote o o o o o o Alternative Vote Preferential voting o is a system of preferential voting o Voters in single member districts rank order the candidate candidate who receives an absolute majority is elected Alternative Vote Advantages Identifiable represent o o Winner with absolute major o Voters preference ranking accounted for o o o incentivizes sincere voting incentivizes the cultivation of broad base of support increased legitimacy Alternative Vote Disadvantages It s complicated o o Requires alliterate voting population o can still result in disproportionate outcomes the 49 9 Majority runoff o candidate centered systems in single member districts in which voters have single vote voters may coalesce around candidates between first and second round o o Easy to implement in societies with high literacy candidate with Majority Plurality TRs Two Round Majority Systems Advantage o winner obtains absolute majors Two Round Majority Systems Disadvantage o costly administration disproportional o o Condorcet winner not guaranteed o can trigger violence in divided societies Single non transferable vote o SNTV voters cast a single candidate centered vote in a multimember district o Advantage multimember allow your minority representation multiparty representation from single district o Disadvantage favors incumbent and well organized parties few incentives to build broad based coalitions incentive o Party Block Vote candidate centric systems in multimember districts all seats are allocated to the party that wins the majority 11 12 reviewed the pizza election chart A proportional electoral system PR allocates seats to parties in proportion to the vote o o o o o o o o share the parties win in the district or the nation proportional translation of votes into seats o Proportional representation systems differ in important ways the district magnitude the use of electoral thresholds the precise formula used to allocate seats to parties the type of party list employed District magnitude is critical for determining proportionality the district magnitude is the number of representatives elected in a district the electoral threshold stipulates the minimum percentage of votes a party must win to gain a seat legally imposed formal threshold or exists as a mathematical property of the electoral system natural threshold high barrier to entry results in low levels of proportionality Electoral formulas quotas and divisors o All pr systems employ quota or divisors to determine how many seats each party o The quota indicates the number of votes that guarantees the amount of seats The largest reminders method awards extra seats based on the largest leftover number of The highest average remainder divides the number of votes by the number of automatic seats with the remaining seats being allocated to those with the highest average remainder This benefits small parties wins given votes In a closed party list the candidates are ranked by the party and voters are not able to express a preference for a particular candidate Open party list voters indicate Advantages of closed list PR easy to understand promotes strong partisanship a diversity of opinions will be represented disadvantages of closed list PR o weak connection between constituents and representative voters have no say in who takes office Open party list o o o o o voters can call ballot for individual candidates rather than party lists in an open list system these party seats are allocated according to whichever party candidates win the most votes o Advantages o Disadvantages proportionality higher identifiability because voters select candidates diminished partisanship among voters and legislators Thought to be prone to corruption and vote buying though it is not well supported empirically Consequences of electoral system the real world and our class o Chapter 14 Political Parties o A political party includes those who hold office and those who help get them there o Structure the political world o Recruit and socialize the political elite o Organize and mobilize masses o Provide a link between the rulers and the ruled o Democracies are distinguished Nonpartisan democracy no official political parties o Kuwait o US Non Partisan judicial election Single party system only one party is legally allowed o China Cuba of winning o Pri Mexico One party dominant system multiple parties legally operate but only has realistic chance Two party system one of 2 mayor parties have realistic chance o US Great Britain Multiparty systems more than 2 parties have realistic chance of winning We don t count every party that exists to avoid joke parties o Counting parties o Effective of parties o Weights me of parties by their size their proportion of votes or seats This calculated as 1 vi 2 Effective of legislative parties Parties that win
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