Anti-plurality voting describes an
electoral system
An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...
in which each voter votes ''against'' a single candidate, and the candidate with the fewest votes against wins. Anti-plurality voting is an example of a
positional voting method.
Example
In this electoral system, each voter marks a vote against his or her fourth preference. In this case, it would be a tie between Nashville and Chattanooga, both receiving zero votes. If the tie is to be resolved with anti-plurality voting as well, Nashville would win, as it has less second-to-last place votes (32%) than Chattanooga (42%). Ties could also be resolved through a second subsequent
runoff election
The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...
.
Characteristics
As can be seen from the example, in the absence of
tactical voting
Strategic or tactical voting is voting in consideration of possible ballots cast by other voters in order to maximize one's satisfaction with the election's results.
Gibbard's theorem shows that no voting system has a single "always-best" stra ...
, this system tends to favor middle-of-the-road candidates. However, it is very sensitive to tactical voting, as any candidate perceived beforehand as a potential winner will attract more countervotes from partisans of their opponents. This creates the paradoxical situation for the candidates that, in order to win, you need to appear not to be winning. For this reason, few would advocate this system for general high-stakes use, though for its simplicity it can be useful in specific situations (where voters are not motivated to use tactical voting).
Voting method criteria evaluation
APV satisfies the
monotonicity criterion
Electoral system criteria
In social choice, the negative response, perversity, or additional support paradox is a pathological behavior of some voting rules where a candidate loses as a result of having too much support (or wins because of in ...
, the
participation criterion
The participation criterion is a voting system criterion that says candidates should never lose an election as a result of receiving too many votes in support. More formally, it says that adding more voters who prefer ''Alice'' to ''Bob'' should ...
and the
consistency criterion. It does not satisfy the
Condorcet loser criterion
In single-winner voting system theory, the Condorcet loser criterion (CLC) is a measure for differentiating voting systems. It implies the majority loser criterion but does not imply the Condorcet winner criterion.
A voting system complying wi ...
, the
independence of irrelevant alternatives criterion
In social choice theory and politics, a spoiler effect happens when a losing candidate affects the results of an election simply by participating. Voting rules that are not affected by spoilers are said to be spoilerproof.
The frequency and se ...
, the
independence of clones criterion or
reversal symmetry.
See also
*
Plurality voting
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected.
Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...
*
Approval voting
Approval voting is a single-winner rated voting system where voters can approve of all the candidates as they like instead of Plurality voting, choosing one. The method is designed to eliminate vote-splitting while keeping election administration ...
*
Disapproval voting
*
Coombs' method uses antiplurality counts with sequential elimination
References
{{reflist
Electoral systems