The general ticket or party block voting (PBV), is a type of

block voting Block or bloc voting refers to a class of electoral systems where multiple candidates are elected simultaneously. They do not guarantee minority representation and allow a group of voters (a voting bloc) to ensure that only their preferred candi ...

in which voters opt for a party or a team of candidates, and the highest-polling party/team becomes the winner and receives 100% of the seats for this multi-member district. The party block voting is usually applied with more than one multi-member district to prevent one team winning all seats. This system has a winner-take-all nature similar to

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

for

single-member district A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

s, which is vulnerable to

gerrymandering Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...

and majority reversals. A related system is the

majority bonus system A majority bonus system (MBS, also called a minority-friendly majoritarian system) is a mixed-member, partly-proportional electoral system that gives extra seats in a legislature to the party with a plurality or majority of seats. Typically, th ...

, where a block of seats is awarded according to the winner of

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered Political party, political parties, with each party being Apportionment (politics), allocated a certain number of seats Apportionm ...

Usage

Philippines

From 1941 up to 1949 elections, the Philippines elected its officials under this system, then known as ''block voting''. A voter can write the name of the party on the ballot and have all of that voter's votes allocated for that party's candidates, from president to local officials; there is still an option for a voter to split one's ticket down ballot and not write the name of the party. This led to landslides for the

Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino language, Filipino and Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; , NP) is a political party in the Philippines which is the oldest existing party in the country and in Southeast Asi ...

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

, for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

. The law was amended in time for the 1951 election, having voters to vote for each office separately.

Singapore

In Singapore, the general ticket system, locally known as the , elects by far most members of the

Parliament of Singapore The Parliament of Singapore is the unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore, which governs the country alongside the President of Singapore. Largely based upon the Westminster system, the Parliament is made ...

from multi-member districts known as group representation constituencies (GRCs), on a plurality basis. This operates in parallel to elections from

and nominations. It is moderated by the inclusion of at least one person of a different race than the others in any "team" (which is not necessarily a party team) which is selected by voters.

United States

Ticket voting is used to elect electors for the

Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

for

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

, except for some of the electors in Maine and Nebraska who are elected by

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

in districts covering just part of each state. Under ticket voting, votes for any non-overall winning party's candidates do not receive any representation by elected members.

Coexistence

The following countries use party block voting in coexistence with other systems in different districts.

Superposition

Countries using party block voting in parallel with

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

History

Historically party block voting was used in the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

before 1967 but mainly before 1847; and in France, in the pre-

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

decades of the Third Republic which began in 1870.

France

The scrutin de liste ( Fr. , voting by

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th cent ...

, and , a list) was, before

, a system of election of national representatives in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

by which the electors of a department voted for a party-homogeneous slate of deputies to be elected to serve it nationally. It was distinguished from the , also called , under which the electors in each

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

returned one deputy.

United States

The following is a table of every instance of the use of the general ticket in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. General ticket system was common until limited to special use by the 1842

Apportionment Bill United States congressional apportionment is the process by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are distributed among the 50 states according to the most recent decennial census mandated by the United States Constitution. ...

and locally implementing legislation which took effect after the 1845–47 Congress.Public Law 90-196, Until the Congress ending in 1967 it took effect in rare instances, save for a two cases of ex- Confederate States – for one term – these had tiny delegations, were for top-up members to be at-large allocated pending redistricting, or were added to the union since the last census.

References

Sources

*{{cite book, title = The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts, last = Martis, first = Kenneth C., year = 1982, publisher = Macmillan Publishing Company, location = New York

External links

U.S. House of Representatives: House History
Non-proportional multi-winner electoral systems United States congressional districts

Usage

Philippines

Singapore

United States

Coexistence

Superposition

History

France

United States

See also

References

Sources

External links