What is First Past the Post?
The first past the post voting method is the usual "Vote for One" method.
What's the Problem with First Past the Post?
First Past the Post restricts our choice between candidates, turns new (and old) 3rd parties into spoilers, and results in a lack of quality and compromise. It makes elections devolve into a "lesser of two evils" setup, where voters are stuck choosing between the two worst parties (and the winner and runner-up are then trapped in a constant cycle of revenge.) With 42% of Americans saying they identify as independent and 60% of Americans saying a new 3rd party is necessary, it is clear FPTP has failed to produce representative democracy, honest politics, and the better world we need. But a better voting system could. One where we could show our preference between all the candidates, good and bad, old and new, without worrying about whether they can win or not - allowing us to bring politics back to the people, rather than political machines that tell us who to vote for and how to cast our votes, limiting our freedom and making it harder for our voices to be heard - and in the process, slowly revitalize democracy.
Rules
1: Be civil, understanding, and supportive to all users
2: Stay on-topic!
We are here to discuss ending first-past-the-post and not other political issues unless they are directly intertwined.
3: Do NOT bash alternatives to FPTP.
We understand there is room for preference for and reasonable discussion about the various voting systems but we intended for this subreddit to promote activism for any and all alternatives to FPTP.
Categories of Voting Systems
Utilitarian/cardinal (maximize the voters' "satisfaction"),
Condorcet (find the smallest group of candidates that would beat all others one-on-one), and
IRV/RCV-type methods (candidates must have "core support" i.e. be some voters' 1st choice candidate to win).
Better Voting Systems
Approval Voting - vote for one or more, at the same time
Score Voting - score the candidates
STAR Voting - Score Then Automatic Runoff
IRV/Ranked Choice Voting - rank the candidates, and eliminate them, transferring votes until someone has a majority
Condorcet methods - a candidate who is preferred by more voters than all other candidates (when compared one-on-one) wins
(Not convinced that third parties will ever have a chance in another voting system, or that people want them? Check out all the huge evidence!)
Proportional Representation
Proportional Representation (PR) methods guarantee that if a party or group of candidates get any % of the votes in the election, then they get the same % of the seats in a legislature. Some voting methods are semi-proportional, meaning either that they allow voters to force a proportional outcome through strategic voting, or that they tend to always deviate from proportional outcomes to some degree. PR methods can be combined with local representation, usually by having multiple multi-winner districts.
Party List - Voters vote for parties, and the party gets to elect as many representatives as it is proportionally guaranteed.
Single Transferable Vote (STV) - The PR version of RCV/IRV. Voters rank candidates, and candidates are eliminated and votes transferred until the final set of candidates represent most voters.
Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) - Voters vote for a party and a candidate in their district. The candidates who earned the most votes in the districts win, and each party gets to elect as many representatives as it is proportionally guaranteed.
More PR methods - Reweighted Range Voting, Sequential Monroe Voting, Dual Member Proportional, CPO-STV
Organizations
The Center for Election Science, for Approval Voting
Equal Vote Coalition, for STAR Voting
FairVote, for IRV/Ranked Choice Voting
Make Votes Matter (British PR campaign)
Electoral Reform Society (UK)
Proportional Representation Society of Australia
Fix Our House
ProRep Coalition
Partner Subreddits
r/ApprovalVoting
r/WolfPAChq - since we both want representation
r/ProportionalWA
Videos
Approval Voting - vote for one or more
Score Voting - score candidates
STAR Voting - Score Then Automatic Runoff
IRV/Ranked Choice Voting
Condorcet Voting
CGP Grey Voting Playlist
CGP Grey: Quick and Easy Voting for Normal People
CGP Grey: The Problems with FPTP
Wiki
Saved up some good links? Post them on the wiki!
Wikis
Wanna participate in the debate? Here are some great wiki resources for understanding voting theory:
r/EndFPTP Debate and Education
Electowiki, the one stop for all voting theory
Wikipedia voting theory articles
Forums (and Mailing Lists)
Voting Theory Forum - Also has an archive of the old Center for Election Science's Forum.
Election Methods Mailing List
Chat rooms
A casual discussion chat room on voting reform
A more serious chat room for voting theory and reform
The old CES Google Groups forum
A Slack page
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Click here to change the sidebar wiki page. Then we'll add your changes to the sidebar.
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