Preferential block voting
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Preferential block voting is a
Under both block voting and preferential block voting, a single group of like-minded voters can win every seat, making both forms of block voting non-proportional.
Casting and counting the ballots
In preferential block voting, a
Candidates with the smallest tally of first preference votes are eliminated (and their votes transferred as in instant runoff voting) until a candidate has more than half the vote. The count is repeated with the elected candidates removed and all votes returning to full value until the required number of candidates is elected. An example of this method is described in Robert's Rules of Order.[1]
Effects
With or without a preferential element, block voting systems have a number of features which can make them unrepresentative of the diversity of voters' intentions. Block voting regularly produces complete
Use
Block voting was used in the Australian Senate from 1901 to 1948; from 1919, this was preferential block voting.[3] More recently, the system has been used to elect local councils in Australia’s Northern Territory.[4] In elections in 2007 and 2009, Hendersonville, North Carolina used a form of preferential block voting. In 2009, Aspen, Colorado also used a form of preferential block voting for a single election before repealing the system. In 2018, the state of Utah passed a state law creating a pilot program for municipalities to use instant runoff voting for single seat contests and preferential block voting for multi seat contests, and in 2019, Payson, Utah and Vineyard, Utah each held preferential block voting contests for three and two city council seats respectively.[5]
Ballots
See also
- Block approval voting, its approval voting equivalent
- Single transferable vote, its proportional equivalent
- Multiple non-transferable vote, its plurality equivalents
References
- ^ Robert, Henry M. (2011). Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 11th ed., p. 425-428 (RONR)
- ISBN 978-0-472-02681-4.
- . Retrieved 2020-08-03.
- S2CID 154563517. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
- ^ Jack Santucci and Benjamin Reilly, "Utah’s new kind of ranked-choice voting could hurt political minorities — and sometimes even the majority"