Logic of ‘voter equality’ drives WA electoral reform
An inquiry into defects in the way the Western Australian Legislative Council is elected has produced a most unusual reform report, and could see the state create possibly the world’s most democratic legislative chamber.
Will ranked-choice voting spread in the US?
After the historic use of ranked choice (preferential) voting* in the US state of Maine to conduct elections for representatives to the national Congress, social media is alive with the … Continue reading
First-past-the-post: a rogue’s practice?
How did ‘first-past-the-post’ voting – the common target of election reform campaigns in Britain, Canada and the US – get its famous name? “FPTP” is really just a plurality criterion: … Continue reading
Australia nears its centenary of ranked choice voting
Five seats in the Australian Parliament have been decided in a weekend of by-elections using preferential (ranked choice) voting. Across the United States and Canada, reform movements are calling for … Continue reading
Canadian parliamentary governments have a strange lack of voter backing
Last weeks’s provincial election for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario highlights a major problem with Canadian elections: the surprisingly low electoral mandates of almost all their national and provincial governments. … Continue reading
Mainers defend preferential voting … for now
Voters in the US state of Maine have today backed an unusual ballot to veto controversial electoral legislation of the state legislature, in doing so protecting a 2016 referendum vote … Continue reading
British Columbia electoral reform plan announced
The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia has announced details of a plebiscite to be held in November on the future system for electing the province’s Legislative Assembly. … Continue reading
Gun reform cause: partisanship imposed by broken US voting system
The astonishing campaign by US school students to change gun safety law leads directly to calls for current legislators to respond, or be voted out of office. But one key … Continue reading
Congressional cliffhanger: did the Libertarian cost the Republican victory?
The very close result in last night’s special election for the vacant 18th congressional district of Pennsylvania looks set to attract a lot of attention to the idea of ranked choice … Continue reading
Italian election preview: a mess, partly down to electoral system design
Italians go to the polls on Sunday, but seem unlikely to end up with a happy parliament. The nation’s 48 million voters will elect the two chambers of their national … Continue reading
On Elections 