ELI5: Differences between IVR, MMP and the American voting system.
Australia uses the IVR (Instant Runoff Voting) system. NZ and Germany uses MMP (Mixed-Member Proportional Voting) system. And I've got no idea what goes on in America. What's unique to each and how would they compare to each other?
(Would've asked about Canada's 'First Past The Post' system, but I had my question answered by http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l29pc/li5_the_first_past_the_post_voting_system_in/)
Posted Oct 14, 2011, 3:14 AM UTC
32
America has FPTP also. Basically, whoever gets the most votes wins. In some cases they require a majority. Then they take the top two and have a runoff.
The problem with this is as follows. Let's say we have three candidates, Alice, Bob, and Charlie. 60% of people like Alice or Bob, but hate Charlie. The other 40% like Charlie but hate Alice and Bob. Voting day comes, and Alice gets 25%, Bob gets 35%, Charlie gets 40% and wins. Now 60% of people are mad.
IRV means you would rank your options instead and require a majority. In the example above, Since Alice had the fewest votes, she drops out, and people who voted for Alice have their second choice get their vote. Now the votes are 60% Bob and 40% Charlie. The majority of people are happy with this.
MMP I am not super familiar with, but this is how I understand it. Sometimes, It's more important what party someone is a member of than who they are. Say, all the blues always vote the same way, and all the reds vote the same way. You have a district that is 55% blues and 45% reds, and they are electing 10 representatives. With MMP, you vote for the party, and there are 6 blues elected and 4 reds. Without it, one popular blue could get 55% of the votes, but the 45% reds vote 5% each for 9 red candidates. Then we've elected 1 blue and 9 reds from a district that is 60% blue. You can see why the blues don't want this.
thank you so much! great answer!!!! ^_^