Talk:Runoff voting
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CHANGES to runoff voting: 09:02:28 7/8/04
Significant changes were made and many are not entirely agreeable ("...half of the "positive" votes"?!)
He/she mainly made a point of differentiating between a "top-two runoff" and other runoffs, but I'm not convinced the changes are good ones. Maybe better to move old page under "two round system" or some other common name for a well-used method in politics. I'm not aware any other runoff method is used in politics.
I'll do some editing eventually if no one else does, but happy if someone else wants to review and revert as needed.
--Tom Ruen 03:50, Jul 9, 2004 (UTC)
Run-off election
The following text was in Run-off election before I turned it into a redirect --Tagishsimon (talk)
A run-off election is a system of (usually 2) elections in which the top two candidates (by percentage of the vote received) in the first election then run in a second election.
The phrase "run-off" can refer either to a run-off primary system, or specifically to' the second election of a run-off system.
An Example of a Run-Off Election
ELECTION ONE Candidates:
A 45% B 40% C 15%
ELECTION TWO Features candidates A and B in a "Run-off"
Advantages of a Run-Off Election
In a run-off election, the possibility of a "third party spoiler" is eliminated because no voter is forced to cast a vote for a candidate they do not favor. Here is an example:
If the US Presidential election were a run-off system, you might see this scenario. Voter 1 favors Ralph Nader. Voter 2 favors George W. Bush. Voter 3 favors John Kerry. In a regular election, assuming every voter votes their conscience, you see this result: Bush 1 Kerry 1 Nader 1 If voters vote strategically you might see this result: Voter 1 - Kerry Voter 2 - Bush Voter 3 - Kerry
Voter 3 has voted strategically, but in the process has voted against his preference. This is the heart of the spoiler issue in an electoral system. Voters who vote for a third candidate that is weaker than the top two, often prefer one of the top two candidates to the other. If they vote for the third candidate, their vote may be "wasted" because they could vote a candidate they prefer, and actually cause the candidate they least prefer to be elected by doing so. If they vote strategically, they will assure a candidate that they prefer is elected, but not the one they most prefer, which is the assumption in an electoral system.
A run-off system compensates by allowing voters to vote their first preference in the first election. In the second election, only the top two candidates are allowed to participate, so the possibility of a third party spoiler has been eliminated.
