Modified d'Hondt electoral system
[Australian Capital Territory Electoral Commission,]
Modified d'Hondt Electoral System
/ref>
is a variant of single transferable voting
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
, where an electoral threshold
The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...
for parties is applied. The difference to single transferable voting is, that any votes for parties below the electoral threshold are transferred to other parties according to the ranking on the ballot across party lines. The parties below electoral threshold are determined by first preference counts. The use of the electoral threshold could reduce the fragmentation of the parliament. This electoral system is a type of open list party-list proportional representation, where the preference of candidates within a party-list is indicated by ranking.
This electoral system was first used in 1989 Australian Capital Territory general election
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 4 March 1989. This was the first direct election by voters in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) for their own legislative body.
The Labor Party, led ...
, with an electoral threshold of 5%. Here ranking only parties without ranking candidates was possible by voting above the line. A similar preferential party system is the spare vote
The spare vote is a version of single transferable voting applied to the ranking of parties, first proposed for elections in Germany in 2013. This preferential party system is a ranked proportional representation electoral system applying to poli ...
electoral system, which ranks political parties.
Disadvantages
If the electoral threshold is set below the natural threshold, then the results of Modified d'Hondt electoral system is indistinguishable from the more common single transferable voting. This was the case in the Australian Capital Territory general election, where the natural threshold was higher than the explicit electoral threshold of 5%. Higher district magnitude
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
s with lower natural thresholds increase the ballot size and makes ballot counting more difficult.
See also
* Ranked voting
The term ranked voting (also known as preferential voting or ranked choice voting) refers to any voting system in which voters rank their candidates (or options) in a sequence of first or second (or third, etc.) on their respective ballots. Ra ...
* Single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...
* Spare vote
The spare vote is a version of single transferable voting applied to the ranking of parties, first proposed for elections in Germany in 2013. This preferential party system is a ranked proportional representation electoral system applying to poli ...
References
{{Reflist
Electoral systems
Preferential electoral systems
Proportional representation electoral systems