Choice Voting- Proportional Representation

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Choice Voting-Proportional Representation

• Electoral System Reform for Greenbelt

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Introduction

• The principle of proportionality
• A majority of voters deserves a majority of
  representation.
• But every sufficiently large group of like-minded
  voters has a right to representation in
  proportion to its share of the vote.
• As many people as possible should have their vote
  count toward representation.
• These goals are achieved through proportional
  representation.

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What is Choice Voting

• A voting system where voters maximize their
  voting power by ranking candidates.
• Ensures that voters elect a candidate they like
  and do not lose out on representation due to vote
  splitting.
• Consistently resulted in fair representation of
  minorities, most recently in Cambridge, MA and
  New York City.
• Promotes coalition building and fosters positive
  campaigning.
• Achieves proportional representation Big
  groupings of voters win more seats, small
  groupings win fewer seats, everyone gets a fair
  share

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History of Choice Voting in US

• 1914, National Municipal League adopted PR in its
  model city charter
• Spurred use in two dozen cities including
• Sacramento, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo,
  Cambridge
• Significant adoption in New York City in 1936
• Elected the first African American legislator
• Choice voting worked well
• Increased representation, decreased power of
  political machines, reduced wasted votes
• Abandoning of PR (1940s, 50s)
• Well financed opposition, racial elements
• As of 1962, only Cambridge, MA retained PR

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How Choice Voting works

• Voters rank candidates in order of preference
• (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd).
• A candidate wins a seat by receiving a share of
  the vote roughly equal to the number of votes
  divided by the number of seats.
• Voters can rank as many candidates as they want
  to.
• Ranking candidates will not affect the chances of
  a voters higher-ranked candidates being elected.

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Victory Threshold

• The victory threshold is set to the lowest share
  of the vote that only a winning number of
  candidates can receive to allow as many voters as
  possible to elect a candidate.
• The victory threshold is calculated and
  candidates win by receiving a number of votes
  equal to or greater than the victory threshold.
• The victory threshold equals
• Total Votes Cast / (Seats 1) 1 vote
• For example, for 2,180 voters to elect 9 council
  seats, winning a seat requires 219 votes or 10)

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How Choice Voting Works An Example

• We are electing 4 representatives there are 8
  candidates.
• Each candidate needs a certain number of votes to
  be elected this is the threshold.
• 750 people have voted, so the threshold is 151
  votes.
• The threshold is calculated by dividing the
  total number of voters 750 by the number of seats
  to be filled 41, plus 1 (750/5)1 151

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We look at all the ballots, and see how many
first preferences (1 choices) each candidate
received.
This shows the number of first choices for each
candidate
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Candidate D has enough votes to win, (she has
reached the 151 vote threshold)
Elected
But we still need to elect 3 more people
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Candidate D has more votes than she needed to be
elected (more than the threshold). This is called
a surplus.
Surplus
Elected
She has a surplus of 50 votes, which we do not
want to waste.
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We look at all of Candidate Ds ballots, and
transfer the portion that was not necessary for
her to be elected to the second preferences (2
choices).
First Choice
Second Choice
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Most of the surplus is transferred to other
Candidate F, but some goes to Candidate H.
Transferred Surplus
Elected
No other candidate has enough votes to be
elected, and there are no more surplus votes to
transfer.
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Now we eliminate the candidate with the fewest
votes Candidate C
Elected
and transfer his votes according to the second
choices on the ballots.
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Some of these votes go to another Candidate B,
but some go to Candidate H.
Transferred Votes
Elected
Now we see if anyone else has received enough
votes to be elected
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Candidate B now has enough votes to be elected
Surplus
Elected
Elected
and more surplus choices to transfer.
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Transferring Votes In Summary

• Transfer the surpluses of elected candidates,
  according to the next choice on the ballots (the
  next elected candidate who has not already been
  elected or excluded), and when there are no more
  surpluses to transfer
• exclude the candidates with the fewest votes,
  and transfer their votes according to the next
  available choices on the ballot papers
• until 4 candidates are elected.

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Here is the final result in our example
Elected
Elected
Elected
Elected
The successful candidates are Candidates B, D, F
and H.
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In Summary

• Proportional Representation is a fair and
  representative electoral system used by a
  majority of democracies.
• Helps increase voter choice and turnout by
  fostering competitive elections.
• Encourages more positive campaigning, as
  candidates will ask voters for 2nd and 3rd
  rankings
• Leads to more accurate representation of women
  and minorities in government.
• Allows broader representation by removing unfair
  barriers to independent candidates
• Makes every vote count, by eliminating spoilers
  and wasted votes