Äänestysformaatit

Äänestysformaatit, or voting formats, refer to the different methods used to cast and count votes in an election or decision-making process. The choice of format can significantly influence the outcome and the perceived legitimacy of the results. Common formats include plurality voting, where the candidate with the most votes wins, regardless of whether they achieve a majority. This is often seen in first-past-the-post systems.

Another widely used format is majority voting, which requires a candidate to secure more than 50% of the votes to win. If no candidate achieves this in the first round, a runoff election or a system of preferential voting might be employed. Preferential voting, such as ranked-choice voting, allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins outright, votes are redistributed based on these rankings until a winner emerges with a majority.

Proportional representation is a family of voting formats designed to allocate seats in a legislature in proportion to the votes received by each party. This aims to reflect the overall political diversity of the electorate more accurately than plurality systems. Within proportional representation, there are variations like party-list proportional representation and mixed-member proportional representation.

Other less common formats include approval voting, where voters can vote for as many candidates as they approve of, and score voting, where voters assign a score to each candidate. The selection of an appropriate voting format is a crucial aspect of electoral design, balancing considerations of simplicity, fairness, and representation.