POLSCI 140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Electoral District, Tactical Voting, Majoritarianism

• School: U of M
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLSCI 140
• Professor: Gallagher

Document Summary

Smdp systems: a single member district plurality system is one in which individuals cast a single vote for a candidate in a single-member district. The candidate with the most votes wins: ex: united kingdom, india, canada, nigeria, zambia, criticisms, a candidate can win without a majority of the vote, produces unrepresentative outcomes, encourages strategic voting, discriminates against smaller parties unless regionally concentrated. If no candidate wins an absolute majority, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and her votes are allocated among the rest. Benefits of alternative vote/stv systems: voters rank candidates by preference, less wasted voting, less strategic voting, might eliminate extreme/radical candidates, but, requires considerable information. Majority-runoff trs: candidate-centered systems in a single-member districts in which voters have a single vote, any candidate who obtains an absolute majority of votes in the first round is automatically elected. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of votes, then the top two vote winner go on to compete.