Appendix B: Glossary of Key Terms
- Winner-take-all/first-past-the-post: Elections where each voter submits a ballot choosing one person they want to occupy the office in question. Conventionally, whoever gets the most votes wins. This is the most common method of elections in the United States.1
- Proportional representation: Elections where multiple representatives are chosen in each district based on the percentage of votes they receive. For example, if a party gets one-third of the votes, they win approximately one-third of the seats. This system is the most common in democracies around the world today.2
- Ranked-choice voting: Elections where voters have the option to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third, and so forth. If your first choice doesn’t have a chance to win, your ballot counts for your next choice. This is a winner-take-all method of elections when used to elect one seat. When it is used to elect more than one seat, it is a proportional method.
- Mixed-member proportional: Elections that combine winner-take-all and proportional representation. It uses single-member districts along with additional seats that are allocated based on a party’s share of the vote. Voters pick both a candidate and a party. For example, a state could have three single-winner districts and three proportional seats. A party with 40 percent of the vote might lose all three single-winner seats but still win one or two proportional seats.3
- Fusion voting: Elections that allow more than one political party to nominate the same candidate on the ballot, allowing voters to support their preferred candidate without having to support one of the two major parties. Typically, this means a minor party and a major party “fuse” together to cross-nominate and support the same candidate. The candidate receives all of the votes cast for them from whichever party lines they are listed on.4
Citations
- Josh Franklin, “First Past the Post Voting: Our Elections Explained,” Common Cause Colorado, June 22, 2020, source.
- “Proportional representation, explained,” Protect Democracy, December 5, 2023, source.
- “Proportional representation, explained,” Protect Democracy, December 5, 2023, source.
- Cyrena Kokolis, Chris Parr, and Beau Tremitiere, “Fusing voting, explained,” Protect Democracy, December 19, 2023, source.