Legal Definitions - voting

Voting

The act of formally expressing a choice or opinion to make a decision or elect someone to a position.

• Example 1: During a town hall meeting, residents cast their votes to decide whether to fund a new community center project.

  Explanation: This illustrates voting as the process of expressing a choice (for or against funding) to make a collective decision on an issue.

• Example 2: Employees at a company participate in a secret ballot to elect their union representative for the upcoming term.

  Explanation: Here, voting is the method used by employees to formally choose an individual to represent them.

• Example 3: Citizens across the country go to the polls to elect their next president and members of Congress.

  Explanation: This is a classic example of voting, where individuals express their preference for political candidates to fill elected offices.

Absentee Voting

A method that allows eligible voters to cast their ballot in an election without physically going to a polling place on election day, typically due to absence, illness, or other approved reasons.

• Example 1: A college student studying abroad for the semester requests an absentee ballot to vote in their home state's gubernatorial election.

  Explanation: The student is unable to be physically present at their polling place on election day, so they use absentee voting to participate.

• Example 2: A traveling sales professional, knowing they will be out of town on election day, applies to vote by mail for their local city council race.

  Explanation: This demonstrates absentee voting as a way for individuals with scheduling conflicts to still exercise their right to vote.

• Example 3: A voter who is hospitalized with a sudden illness on election day can arrange to cast an absentee ballot from their hospital bed.

  Explanation: This scenario highlights how absentee voting accommodates voters facing unforeseen circumstances that prevent them from reaching the polls.

Class Voting

A system used in corporations where different types or "classes" of shareholders vote separately on specific company decisions, especially when those decisions would uniquely impact the rights or interests of their particular class of shares.

• Example 1: A company proposes to issue a new series of preferred stock. Under its bylaws, existing preferred shareholders must vote as a separate class to approve this issuance because it could dilute their current rights.

  Explanation: This shows class voting in action, where a specific group of shareholders (existing preferred shareholders) gets a distinct vote on a matter directly affecting their class of stock.

• Example 2: When a major corporate merger is being considered, the holders of Class B common stock, whose dividend rights would be significantly altered by the merger, are required to hold a separate vote to approve the change.

  Explanation: The Class B shareholders form a distinct voting group because the proposed merger has a particular impact on their specific class of shares.

• Example 3: A startup company has two classes of common stock: Class A with standard voting rights and Class B with enhanced voting rights. Any change to the company's articles of incorporation that affects the voting power of Class B shares requires a separate approval vote from the Class B shareholders.

  Explanation: This illustrates how different classes of shares, with distinct rights, are empowered to vote independently on issues that specifically pertain to their unique characteristics.

Cumulative Voting

A voting system where each voter receives a total number of votes equal to the number of positions to be filled, multiplied by the number of shares they own (in corporate contexts). They can then distribute these votes among candidates in any way they choose, including casting all their votes for a single candidate. This system is often designed to give minority shareholders or groups a better chance to elect at least one representative.

• Example 1: In an election for a company's five-person board of directors, a shareholder owns 100 shares. Under cumulative voting, they have 500 votes (100 shares * 5 positions). They can cast all 500 votes for one candidate they strongly support, even if they are a minority shareholder.

  Explanation: This demonstrates how a shareholder can concentrate all their voting power on a single candidate, increasing the likelihood of that candidate winning a seat, which benefits minority interests.

• Example 2: A non-profit organization is electing three board members. Each member gets three votes and can cast all three for one candidate. A small group of members passionate about environmental initiatives can pool their votes for a single environmental advocate, ensuring their voice is heard on the board.

  Explanation: This shows how cumulative voting allows a smaller faction to consolidate their influence to elect a representative who aligns with their specific interests.

• Example 3: In a homeowners' association election for four open board seats, a resident who owns one property gets four votes. They can choose to give all four votes to one candidate who promises to address a specific neighborhood issue, rather than spreading them across multiple candidates.

  Explanation: This illustrates the flexibility of cumulative voting, allowing voters to prioritize a single candidate and maximize their impact on that candidate's election.

IRV (Instant-Runoff Voting)

IRV stands for Instant-Runoff Voting. It is an electoral system where voters rank candidates in order of preference (1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, etc.) rather than just choosing one. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to the voters' next preferred candidate. This process continues until one candidate achieves a majority. It simulates a series of runoff elections without requiring voters to return to the polls multiple times.

• Example 1: A city uses IRV for its mayoral election. Voters rank their choices for mayor. If no candidate wins over 50% of the first-place votes, the candidate with the lowest number of first-place votes is eliminated, and their voters' second choices are then counted. This continues until one candidate has a majority.

  Explanation: This shows IRV in action, where the ranking system allows for a winner to emerge with majority support even if they weren't the first choice of everyone, by reallocating votes from eliminated candidates.

• Example 2: A professional association elects its president using IRV. Members rank the five candidates. If the initial count doesn't yield a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is dropped, and their supporters' second choices are added to the remaining candidates' totals.

  Explanation: This highlights how IRV ensures that the winning candidate has broad support, as they must eventually achieve a majority after lower-ranked candidates are eliminated and preferences are transferred.

• Example 3: A university student government election for president uses IRV. Students rank their preferred candidates. If the initial count doesn't produce a majority winner, the candidate with the least support is removed, and their votes are reassigned based on the voters' next preferences until a majority winner is found.

  Explanation: This illustrates how IRV can be used in various organizational settings to elect a leader who commands majority support without needing multiple rounds of physical voting.

Limited Voting

A voting system where each voter is allowed to cast fewer votes than the total number of positions or representatives being elected. This system is often used to ensure that minority groups have a better chance of electing at least some representatives, as it prevents a majority from electing all available seats.

• Example 1: In a town council election where five seats are open, each voter is only allowed to cast votes for three candidates. This prevents any single political party from easily sweeping all five seats if they have a slight majority of voters.

  Explanation: By limiting the number of votes, the system makes it harder for a simple majority to elect all representatives, thus opening opportunities for minority groups to gain representation.

• Example 2: A school board election has seven vacancies, but each parent is limited to voting for only four candidates. This encourages voters to be more selective and allows for a broader range of perspectives to be represented on the board.

  Explanation: This demonstrates how limited voting can diversify representation by ensuring that even smaller blocs of voters can elect some of their preferred candidates.

• Example 3: A corporate board election has ten director positions, but each shareholder, regardless of their shareholdings, can only vote for six candidates. This ensures that even significant shareholders cannot completely dominate the board's composition.

  Explanation: This example shows how limited voting can be applied in corporate governance to prevent a single large shareholder from appointing the entire board, allowing for some minority representation.

Low-Total Voting

A type of preferential voting where voters rank candidates, and each rank is assigned a numerical value (e.g., 1 for first choice, 2 for second choice, etc.). These numerical values are then summed for each candidate, and the candidate with the lowest total score (meaning they received the most high-ranking preferences) is declared the winner.

• Example 1: A sports league is voting for its "Rookie of the Year." Coaches rank their top three players (1st, 2nd, 3rd). The player whose total sum of ranks across all coaches is the lowest wins the award.

  Explanation: This illustrates how the lowest cumulative score, derived from high-ranking preferences, determines the winner in a low-total voting system.

• Example 2: In a design competition, a panel of judges ranks the five submitted designs from 1 (best) to 5 (worst). The design that accumulates the lowest total score from all judges' rankings is declared the winner.

  Explanation: This shows how the system identifies the most preferred option by summing the numerical values of the rankings, with a lower sum indicating higher overall preference.

• Example 3: A community group is deciding on a new public art project from three proposals. Members rank the proposals 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The proposal with the lowest combined score from all members' rankings is selected for implementation.

  Explanation: This demonstrates how low-total voting can be used to find the most broadly accepted option based on aggregated preferences, where a lower score signifies greater overall approval.

Majority Voting

A voting system where a candidate or option must receive more than half (over 50%) of the total votes cast to win. Each voter typically casts one vote per position or issue.

• Example 1: At a town meeting, a proposal for a new park requires a majority vote to pass. If 100 people vote, at least 51 must vote "yes" for the proposal to be approved.

  Explanation: This clearly shows the requirement for more than 50% of the votes (a simple majority) for an issue to be decided.

• Example 2: In an election for a single school board seat, there are three candidates. For a candidate to win outright in the first round, they must receive more than half of all votes cast.

  Explanation: This illustrates that to secure the position, a candidate needs to achieve an absolute majority of the votes, not just the most votes (which would be plurality).

• Example 3: A club is voting on whether to amend its bylaws. The amendment will only pass if it receives a majority of the votes from the members present at the meeting.

  Explanation: This example demonstrates how majority voting ensures that significant changes or decisions have the support of more than half of the voting body.

Noncumulative Voting

Also known as straight voting, this is a corporate voting system where a shareholder can cast a number of votes for each director candidate equal to the number of shares they own. However, they cannot combine or "cumulate" their votes to cast multiple votes for a single candidate. This system typically allows a shareholder who owns more than 50% of the company's voting shares to elect all members of the board of directors.

• Example 1: A shareholder owns 600 shares in a company electing five directors. Under noncumulative voting, they can cast 600 votes for Candidate A, 600 votes for Candidate B, and so on, for up to five candidates. They cannot, however, cast 3,000 votes for just one candidate.

  Explanation: This shows that votes are cast "straight" for each candidate, limited by the number of shares, without the ability to pool votes for a single individual.

• Example 2: In a small business, one owner holds 70% of the voting stock. In a noncumulative election for three board seats, this majority owner can vote their 70% stake for each of their three preferred candidates, effectively ensuring all three are elected.

  Explanation: This illustrates how noncumulative voting empowers a majority shareholder to control the entire board, as they can outvote minority shareholders on every seat.

• Example 3: A startup company has a dominant venture capital investor who owns 80% of the voting shares. With noncumulative voting, this investor can easily appoint all members of the initial board of directors, as their 80% vote for each candidate is sufficient to win every seat.

  Explanation: This highlights how noncumulative voting allows a single, powerful shareholder to determine the composition of the entire board.

Plurality Voting

Also known as first-past-the-post voting, this is an electoral system where the candidate who receives the most votes wins, even if they do not achieve an absolute majority (more than 50%) of the total votes cast.

• Example 1: In a parliamentary election for a district, Candidate A receives 40% of the vote, Candidate B receives 30%, and Candidate C receives 30%. Candidate A wins the seat because they have the highest number of votes, even though they didn't get more than half.

  Explanation: This demonstrates plurality voting, where the candidate with the largest share of votes, regardless of whether it's a majority, is declared the winner.

• Example 2: A local election for mayor has four candidates. Candidate Smith gets 32% of the vote, Candidate Jones gets 28%, Candidate Davis gets 25%, and Candidate White gets 15%. Candidate Smith wins because they have the most votes, even though 68% of voters preferred someone else.

  Explanation: This illustrates that under plurality voting, the winner simply needs to outpoll all other candidates, not necessarily achieve a majority.

• Example 3: A club holds an election for its president with multiple candidates. The person who receives the highest number of votes, even if it's less than 50%, is immediately declared the winner without any further rounds of voting.

  Explanation: This shows the "first-past-the-post" nature of the system, where the candidate with the most votes crosses the finish line first and wins.

Preferential Voting

Also known as rank-order voting, this is a voting system where voters do not simply choose one candidate or option, but instead rank their choices in order of preference (e.g., 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice). This allows for a more nuanced expression of voter preferences and can be used in various methods to determine a winner, such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Low-Total Voting.

• Example 1: A committee is tasked with selecting a new software vendor and asks its members to rank their top three preferred vendors from a list of five, rather than just picking one.

  Explanation: This demonstrates preferential voting, where voters express a graded preference for multiple options, providing more detailed feedback than a single choice.

• Example 2: At a film festival, the audience votes for the "Audience Choice Award" by ranking all the films from their most favorite to least favorite.

  Explanation: This shows how preferential voting allows for a comprehensive expression of preferences across all available choices.

• Example 3: A group of friends planning a vacation uses preferential voting to decide on a destination, with each person ranking their top five choices from a list of possibilities.

  Explanation: This illustrates how preferential voting can be used in informal settings to gather more nuanced preferences and find a broadly acceptable outcome.

Proportional Voting

Also known as proportional representation, this is an electoral system designed to ensure that political parties or groups receive a number of seats in a legislative body that is roughly proportional to the percentage of votes they received overall. This system aims to reflect the diversity of voter preferences more accurately than winner-take-all systems.

• Example 1: In a national election for a country's parliament, if the Green Party wins 15% of the total votes nationwide, they are allocated approximately 15% of the seats in the legislature.