Problems with Plurality:
!
Why elections in this country suck,
and how we can make it better
Ariel Kirkwood
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2012 Presidential Election, popular vote percentages
51.06%
Barack Obama
47.21%
Mitt Romney
←1.35% - Gary Johnson & Jill Stein
(not shown) 0.38% - everyone else
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Why does this happen?
Why can’t third parties win?
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• Everyone gets one vote, for
only one candidate
• Whoever gets the most votes
wins (no majority needed)
The Enemy:
First-past-the-post
aka
Winner-take-all
aka
Plurality Voting
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Minority rule
Problems with Plurality
#1
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Tendency towards a
two-party system
Problems with Plurality
#2
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The spoiler effect
Problems with Plurality
#3
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How can we fix it? •Instant-Runoff Voting
•Approval Voting
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Questions?
• References
• Plurality Voting System (Wikipedia)
• Instant-runoff voting (Wikipedia)
• Approval voting (Wikipedia)
• CGPGrey - The Problems with First Past The Post Voting Explained
(YouTube)
• iSidewith.com