Skip to content

Ask an Academic

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us
Empty room for politicians

What are the Types of Voting Systems?

September 19, 2019 by Suzanne

First past the post is where you vote for one candidate that standing for election.

Question

What are the different types of voting systems?

Answer

First past the post is where you vote for one candidate that standing for election. The candidate with the majority votes in each constituency wins and will become the MP, It doesn’t matter if they got more than 50% overall, if they got the most votes, they have won anyway.

First past the post is used in the UK because it is the easiest way to understand and the quickest way to count the ballot papers which allows there to be an apparent winner. This system is quite simple to understand because you can only vote for one candidate by just putting an (x) next to the candidate you want to vote for.

Single Transferable vote is where you can vote in the order of preference of all the candidates. For example, if there 5 candidates standing up for election, when you’re voting, you can order them the way you want. This voting system is a good way because if you don’t get you don’t your first choice, you’re more than likely to get your second or third. Nevertheless, this way takes a long a long time.

Alternative vote is similar to the single-transferable vote as they both order candidates the way they want, but with this voting system, if a candidate wins over 50% of the vote on the voter’s first preference, they are elected and win the vote. However, if the candidate does not get 50% on the first referral, the candidate with the smallest amount of votes is removed and their votes second referral, are added to the votes. This will continues until a candidate has more than 50% of the overall vote.

Proportional Representation is where a party will get seats based on the percentage of votes they got. For instance, if a party gained 45% of the votes, they would get 45% of the seats in the House of Commons. There are advantages and disadvantages for this voting system, the advantages are that you get the percentage of seats for the percentage of votes you get, however, this can be bad for the government because it will be weak as there will too many parties with seats.

Post navigation

Previous Post:

How is the Catholic Church Different Today?

Next Post:

What is Augmented Reality?

Search Q&As

Categories

  • Art Media and Literature (74)
  • Business and Management (256)
  • Computing and ICT (14)
  • Construction and Engineering (35)
  • Education (90)
  • Environmental Sciences (2)
  • Finance and Economics (91)
  • Health (64)
  • Languages (12)
  • Law (88)
  • Mathematics and Statistics (2)
  • Medical Sciences (19)
  • Politics and International Relations (83)
  • Research Methodology (1)
  • Science (49)
  • Social Sciences (101)

Archives

Who We Are

Askanacademic.com is owned and operated by All Answers Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration No: 4964706. VAT Registration No: 842417633. Data Controller No: Z1821391.

Registered office:
Venture House
Cross Street
Arnold
Nottingham
NG5 7PJ

Main Navigation

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us

Legals

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Popular Categories

  • Business and Management
  • Law
  • Finance and Economics
  • Health
An an Academic Logo
© 2023 Ask an Academic | WordPress Theme by Superb Themes
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Reject
Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT