Mixed ballot transferable vote

Part of the Politics series
Electoral systems
Single-winner/majoritarian Plurality First-past-the-post Plurality at-large (plurality block voting) General ticket (party block voting) Multi-round voting Two-round Exhaustive ballot Primary election Nonpartisan unified top-four Majority at-large (two-round block voting) Ranked / preferential systems Instant-runoff (alternative vote) Contingent vote Coombs' method Minimax, Nanson's, ranked pairs, Schulze, Alternative Smith ) Positional voting (Borda count, Nauru/Dowdall method) Bucklin voting Oklahoma primary electoral system Preferential block voting Cardinal / graded systems Score voting Approval voting Combined approval voting Unified primary Usual judgment Satisfaction approval voting Majority judgment STAR voting
Proportional representation Party-list Electoral list open list closed list local lists Apportionment Sainte-Laguë D'Hondt Huntington–Hill Hare Droop Imperiali Hagenbach-Bischoff National remnant Highest averages Largest remainder Proportional forms of ranked voting Single transferable vote Gregory Wright Schulze STV CPO-STV Ranked party list PR Spare vote Proportional forms of cardinal voting Proportional approval voting Sequential proportional approval voting Method of Equal Shares Phragmen's voting rules Biproportional apportionment Fair majority voting Weighted voting Direct representation Interactive representation Liquid democracy
Mixed systems By type of representation Mixed-member majoritarian Mixed-member proportional Non-compensatory mixed systems Parallel voting Majority bonus Compensatory mixed systems Additional member system Mixed single vote (positive vote transfer) Scorporo (negative vote transfer) Mixed ballot transferable vote Alternative Vote Plus Dual-member proportional Rural–urban proportional
Other systems and related theory Semi-proportional representation Single non-transferable vote Limited voting Cumulative voting Binomial voting Other systems Multiple non-transferable vote Double simultaneous vote Proxy voting Delegated voting Indirect STV Liquid democracy Random selection (sortition, random ballot) Supermajority Social choice theory Arrow's theorem Gibbard–Satterthwaite theorem Public choice theory Veto Players List of electoral systems List of electoral systems by country Comparison of electoral systems Effects of electoral systems Political fragmentation Political efficacy Voter turnout
Politics portal
v t e

The mixed ballot transferable vote (MBTV) refers to a type of vote linkage-based mixed-member electoral system where a group of members are elected on local (lower) tier, for example in single-member districts (SMDs). Other members are elected on a compensatory national (upper) tier from a list and voters cast a single ballot where they may indicate their preferences separately.^[1]

This article is primarily about systems using mixed ballots, for the dual vote, hybrid versions of parallel voting and MSV used in Hungary and formerly used in Italy for national elections see Scorporo.^[2]

Overview

Unused votes from the lower tier are counted on the upper tier in a compensatory way using a (partial, positive) vote transfer mechanism. This tied, preferential nature of the dual ballot makes it different from mixed-member proportional (seat linkage compensatory) and parallel voting (non-compensatory) systems, which also use two votes for the two tiers. How proportional the outcome is depends on among other factors, the rules (what counts as "wasted" vote) and parameters (e.g. the number of compensatory seats) used in the system.^[3]

In Hungary, elections to the National Assembly use a dual vote based positive vote transfer system,^[4] where votes for candidates that did not win a seat are added along with excess votes for the winner in the seat to the list votes.^[2] This has plurality SMDs and also partially compensates winning candidates, however, that system uses a parallel voting component to count list votes (which are located on separate ballots).

A system formerly used in Italy, scorporo is also a dual vote and vote linkage based mixed electoral system, but differs from MBTV in that it uses negative vote transfer as its compensatory mechanism compensation. These systems lack the "transferable" (preferential) part of MBTV, in favour of an automatic vote transfer based on party affiliation.

Variations

Plurality

The simplest type of MBTV system allows two single choices on the ballot: one for a local candidate, one for a party list. This type of ballot is also used in the electoral system of Germany^[5] and New Zealand.

Ranking

A ballot can allow either the voter to rank the candidates or the party lists or both, in this case rankings can be used for a system of elimination, like that of instant-runoff voting (to determine local winners and which parties pass the entry threshold). If ranking of both is allowed, the ballot design can also allow to intermix the rankings, providing a full ranking.^[1]

Other

MBTV systems may be designed around other systems, for example approval and proportional approval voting.

Usage of mixed ballots

The German electoral system, which, while it falls under the category of MMP systems due to its seat linkage mechanism, also uses a mixed ballot on which the first vote (Erststimme) and second vote (Zweitstimme) are both single choice votes. In addition, as in MBTV, not all ballots are used in the compensatory tier, such namely ballots cast for independent candidates who have won a district seat and parties below the electoral threshold.^[5] This mechanism makes it similar to the preferential interpretation of the mixed ballot when it would be used in a purely vote linkage based system.

References

See also

• Mixed single vote
• Mixed-member proportional representation
• Scorporo or negative vote transfer systems
• Instant-runoff voting
• Semi-proportional representation
• List of electoral systems by country