Limited Voting
Encyclopedia
Limited voting is a voting
system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes absolutely. In the special case in which the voter may vote for only one candidate and there are two or more posts, this system is called the single non-transferable vote
or sometimes the strictly limited vote.
. At the election, the ballot paper appears thus:
The voter has only two votes, which they have cast for Brian and Berryl Blue. They cannot cast a vote for the third available seat. Each vote counts as one towards the total for the candidate they have put their mark against.
systems - it is not guaranteed to do this, since the effectiveness of a sectional vote may be altered depending on the number of candidates fielded.
For example, in Voterville 54% of electors support the Blue Party while 46% support the Red Party. Assuming an even distribution of support across the town, the Blue Party would win all three seats with either bloc voting or first past the post. With limited voting the Red Party would usually win one seat.
However it is possible for the Blue Party to overreach itself and win only one of the available seats. Since they have nearly 60% of the vote, they may be tempted to try to win all three seats. To do this, they need only to field three candidates. The Red Party, aware of their relative weakness, choose only to contest two and thus to concentrate their vote.
Assuming 100,000 electors in the town casting two votes each, the results might thus be:
By fielding three candidates the Blue Party hopelessly split their vote, despite having a clear majority in the town.
As can be seen from this example, limited voting is not a proportional electoral system.
Another way in which the system may fail to achieve fair representation is if the largest party is very well organised and can arrange the distribution of its supporters' vote for maximum advantage. A historical example of this was the 1880 election for the three Members of Parliament for the English city of Birmingham
. Electors could cast up to two votes.
Charles Seymour in Electoral Reform in England and Wales explained the reaction of the Liberals of Birmingham after the limited vote was enacted..
for some Parliamentary constituencies.
It was also used in Italy
at the end of the nineteenth century and in Japan
during the US-led Allied occupation in the first post-war election in 1946
with two votes per voter in districts with ten or less representatives and three votes in districts with more than ten representatives.
The limited vote has been used since the restoration of democracy to elect senators from the Spanish mainland. In the United States
, it is used to elect most municipal offices in Connecticut
, many county commissions in Pennsylvania
, and some in other states. It has been adopted to resolve voting rights cases in more than 20 municipalities in Alabama and North Carolina, as detailed in Arrington and Ingalls' 1998 article "The limited vote alternative to affirmative districting" (Political Geography, Volume 17, Number 6, Aug 1998 , pp. 701-728). In 2009 a federal judge ordered its use for school board elections in Euclid, Ohio.
It is used for:
- elections in Gibraltar
(10 votes for 17 seats)
- elections to the Spanish Senate (3 votes for 4 seats per province)
- elections of the National Assembly of Kuwait
.
, for the Senate of Argentina and for the Senate of Bolivia until 2005. A similar system was used for the Bolivian Constituent Assembly
elections of 2 July 2006).
Voting
Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics.- Reasons for voting :...
system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes absolutely. In the special case in which the voter may vote for only one candidate and there are two or more posts, this system is called the single non-transferable vote
Single non-transferable vote
The single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections.- Voting :In any election, each voter casts one vote for one candidate in a multi-candidate race for multiple offices. Posts are filled by the candidates with the most votes...
or sometimes the strictly limited vote.
Example
The town of Voterville elects three representatives to the local legislatureLegislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
. At the election, the ballot paper appears thus:
| Rory Red | Red Party | |
| Rachel Red | Red Party | |
| Brian Blue | Blue Party | X |
| Beryl Blue | Blue Party | X |
| Boris Blue | Blue Party |
The voter has only two votes, which they have cast for Brian and Berryl Blue. They cannot cast a vote for the third available seat. Each vote counts as one towards the total for the candidate they have put their mark against.
Practice and issues
Although it frequently enables minority groupings to gain representation - unlike first past the post or bloc votingPlurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
systems - it is not guaranteed to do this, since the effectiveness of a sectional vote may be altered depending on the number of candidates fielded.
For example, in Voterville 54% of electors support the Blue Party while 46% support the Red Party. Assuming an even distribution of support across the town, the Blue Party would win all three seats with either bloc voting or first past the post. With limited voting the Red Party would usually win one seat.
However it is possible for the Blue Party to overreach itself and win only one of the available seats. Since they have nearly 60% of the vote, they may be tempted to try to win all three seats. To do this, they need only to field three candidates. The Red Party, aware of their relative weakness, choose only to contest two and thus to concentrate their vote.
Assuming 100,000 electors in the town casting two votes each, the results might thus be:
| Rory Red | 46,000 votes | Elected |
| Rachel Red | 46,000 votes | Elected |
| Brian Blue | 38,000 votes | Elected |
| Beryl Blue | 36,000 votes | |
| Boris Blue | 34,000 votes |
By fielding three candidates the Blue Party hopelessly split their vote, despite having a clear majority in the town.
As can be seen from this example, limited voting is not a proportional electoral system.
Another way in which the system may fail to achieve fair representation is if the largest party is very well organised and can arrange the distribution of its supporters' vote for maximum advantage. A historical example of this was the 1880 election for the three Members of Parliament for the English city of Birmingham
Birmingham (UK Parliament constituency)
Birmingham was a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the city of Birmingham, in what is now the West Midlands Metropolitan County, but at the time was Warwickshire.-Boundaries and History:...
. Electors could cast up to two votes.
- Note: Turnout is estimated on the basis of dividing votes cast by two. To the extent that electors did not use both their possible votes, turnout will be underestimated. (Source: Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885).
Charles Seymour in Electoral Reform in England and Wales explained the reaction of the Liberals of Birmingham after the limited vote was enacted..
The Liberals of Birmingham realized that if they were to retain the third seat, their vote must be divided economically between the three candidates.
To prevent waste of votes, an organization must be built up which could control absolutely the choice of the elector; and each elector must vote invariably as he was told. The success of the Birmingham organization, which soon became known as the Caucus was unbroken and no Conservative candidate was returned. It was copied in many other constituencies and inaugurated a new era in the development of party electoral machinery, the effect of which upon the representative system has been profound.
History and current use
This system was used between 1867 and 1885 in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for some Parliamentary constituencies.
It was also used in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
at the end of the nineteenth century and in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
during the US-led Allied occupation in the first post-war election in 1946
Japanese general election, 1946
General elections were held in Japan on 10 April 1946, the first after World War II. Voters had one, two or three votes, depending on how many MPs were elected from their constituency. The result was a victory for the Liberal Party, which won 148 of the 464 seats. Voter turnout was 72.1%-Results:...
with two votes per voter in districts with ten or less representatives and three votes in districts with more than ten representatives.
The limited vote has been used since the restoration of democracy to elect senators from the Spanish mainland. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it is used to elect most municipal offices in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, many county commissions in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and some in other states. It has been adopted to resolve voting rights cases in more than 20 municipalities in Alabama and North Carolina, as detailed in Arrington and Ingalls' 1998 article "The limited vote alternative to affirmative districting" (Political Geography, Volume 17, Number 6, Aug 1998 , pp. 701-728). In 2009 a federal judge ordered its use for school board elections in Euclid, Ohio.
It is used for:
- elections in Gibraltar
Elections in Gibraltar
Elections in Gibraltar gives information on election and election results in Gibraltar.Gibraltar elects on national level a legislature. The Gibraltar Parliament has 17 members, all elected for a four year term in one constituency with each voter getting to vote for their selection of eight...
(10 votes for 17 seats)
- elections to the Spanish Senate (3 votes for 4 seats per province)
- elections of the National Assembly of Kuwait
National Assembly of Kuwait
The National Assembly of Kuwait, known as the Majlis Al-Umma , is the legislature of Kuwait. The current speaker of the Assembly is Jassem Al-Kharafi. The Emir unconstitutionally dissolved the National Assembly in 1986 and restored it after the Gulf War in 1992...
.
'Fixed Ratio' or closed-list version of Limited Vote
The electoral system whereby two seats are assigned to the leading party-list and one seat to the second-placed party-list normally has the same result as limited vote with two votes per voter for three seats. It is used for 96 of 128 seats of the Senate of MexicoSenate of Mexico
The Senate of the Republic, constitutionally Chamber of Senators of the Honorable Congress of the Union After a series of reforms during the 1990s, it is now made up of 128 senators:...
, for the Senate of Argentina and for the Senate of Bolivia until 2005. A similar system was used for the Bolivian Constituent Assembly
Bolivian Constituent Assembly
The Bolivian Constituent Assembly, convened on August 6, 2006 in Sucre, with the purpose of drafting a new national constitution by December 14, 2007; extended from the original deadline of August 6, 2007. The Assembly approved the new Political Constitution of the State on 9 December 2007...
elections of 2 July 2006).
See also
- Cumulative votingCumulative votingCumulative voting is a multiple-winner voting system intended to promote more proportional representation than winner-take-all elections.- History :...
- Single non-transferable voteSingle non-transferable voteThe single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections.- Voting :In any election, each voter casts one vote for one candidate in a multi-candidate race for multiple offices. Posts are filled by the candidates with the most votes...
- Plurality-at-large votingPlurality-at-large votingPlurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...