POLI 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Instant-Runoff Voting, Single Transferable Vote, Lection

• School: McGill University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 200
• Professor: Manuel Balan

Document Summary

Set of rules governing conversion of votes to seats. Types: smp: single member plurality (about 80 countries) Winner takes all > biggest % takes seat. Disadvantages: excludes minorities/women, gerrymandering possible, pr: proportional representation (about 90 countries) Smp: first past the post (voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate w/ most votes wins), alternative vote (rank preferences) , two round systems (runoff) Pr: list system (list of candidates ordered or not), mixed (2 votes 1 for candidate, 1 for list/party), single transferable vote. Parties in power, elected through the existing system. Little incentive for change, and if there is a change > instrumental & strategic. Very common to see broken promises of electoral reform: consequences of electoral systems: Party systems may be shaped by existing cleavages. They also may be shaped by electoral systems (institutions: duverger"s law: the more proportional the systems, the greater the number of.