Voting

The procedure for identifying the winners based on votes varies depending on both the country and the political office.

The study of these rules and what makes them good or bad is the subject of a branch of welfare economics known as social choice theory.

In smaller organizations, voting can occur in many different ways: formally via ballot to elect others for example within a workplace, to elect members of political associations, or to choose roles for others; or informally with a spoken agreement or a gesture like a raised hand.

In larger organizations, like countries, voting is generally confined to periodic elections.

In an indirect democracy, voting is the method by which the person elected (in charge) represents the people, whilst making decisions.

All modern liberal democracies use voting by secret ballot to prevent individuals from becoming influenced by other people and to protect their political privacy.

The objective of secret ballots is to try to achieve the most authentic outcome, without any risk of pressure, threat, or services linked to one's vote; this way, a person is able to express their actual preferences.

The purpose of an election may be to choose one person, such as a president, or a group, such as a committee or a parliament.

With two-round elections, the field of candidates is thinned prior to the second round of voting.

Variants exist regarding these two points: the requirement for being elected at the first round is sometimes less than 50%, and the rules for participation in the runoff may vary.

The system is designed to produce the same result as an exhaustive ballot but using only a single round of voting.

So, a voter might vote for Alice, Bob, and Charlie, rejecting Daniel and Emily.

For example, they might mark a preference for Bob in the first place, then Emily, then Alice, then Daniel, and finally Charlie.

The voters or elected representatives cast their preferences on one, some, or all options, 1,2,3,4... as in PR-STV or QBS.

The option which wins the most pairings, (if there is one), is the Condorcet winner.--> When the citizens of a country are invited to vote, they are participating in an election.

In South Africa, there is a strong presence of anti-voting campaigns by poor citizens.

Other social movements in other parts of the world also have similar campaigns or non-voting preferences.

A series of studies coming out of the University of Michigan in the 1950s and 1960s argued that many voters lack a basic understanding of current issues, the liberal–conservative ideological dimension, and the relative ideological dilemma that are important to understand when making political decisions.

[7] Studies from other institutions have suggested that the physical appearance of candidates is a criterion upon which voters base their decision.

[10] Christadelphians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Old Order Amish, Rastafarians, the Assemblies of Yahweh, and some other religious groups, have a policy of not participating in politics and this extends to voting.

[11][12] Rabbis from all Jewish denominations encourage voting and some even consider it a religious obligation.

A group of friends or members of a family may decide which film to see by voting.

The most common voting method uses paper ballots on which voters mark their preferences.

[16] Many countries allow postal voting, where voters are sent a ballot and return it by post.

An example is the Landsgemeinde system in Switzerland, which is still in use in the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Glarus, Grisons, and Schwyz.

[17] Polling stations contain metal drums painted in party colours and emblems with candidates' photos attached to them.

To avoid confusion, bicycles are banned near polling booths on election day.

[17] If the marble is left on top of the drum rather than placed in it, the vote is deemed invalid.