On Elections

How people elect parliaments

Ranked choice voting: the Australian connection

Australians have been watching developments last week regarding ranked choice voting* (RCV) in the state of Maine – and potentially elsewhere in the US – with great interest, because Australia … Continue reading

November 21, 2018 · 2 Comments

As goes Maine … US state uses preferential voting to elect national representatives

After two years of dogged insistence from an independent-minded community, voters in the US state of Maine have become the first in the nation’s history to elect representatives in their … Continue reading

November 21, 2018 · 5 Comments

Close final US House special election backs ‘blue wave’ prediction

Predictions of a major ‘wave’ against Republican party incumbents in the coming US midterm elections have gained ground at the final special election to be held before the general election … Continue reading

August 9, 2018 · 4 Comments

Zimbabwe: another doubtful and deadly election result

There have already been deaths on the streets of Harare after Sunday’s elections in Zimbabwe, and if the election results released so far are any guide, protest by opposition supporters … Continue reading

August 2, 2018 · 2 Comments

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

July 31, 2018 · 10 Comments

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

July 29, 2018 · Leave a comment

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

June 16, 2018 · 1 Comment

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

June 13, 2018 · 1 Comment

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

May 31, 2018 · 1 Comment

Independent reviews of Australian electoral boundaries announced

Electoral boundaries for Australia’s national elections are being changed, and by a process entirely free of the gerrymandering that is afflicting elections in the United States, Malaysia and elsewhere. Australia … Continue reading

April 17, 2018 · 5 Comments