Voting
Voting is a method for a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, in order to make a collective decision or express an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting. Residents of a place represented by an elected official are called "constituents", and those constituents who cast a ballot for their chosen candidate are called "voters". There are different systems for collecting votes, but while many of the systems used in decision-making can also be used as electoral systems, any which cater for proportional representation can only be used in elections.
In smaller organizations, voting can occur in 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. Informally voting could occur as a spoken agreement or as a verbal gesture like a raised hand or electronically.
In a democracy, a government is chosen by voting in an election: a way for an electorate to elect, i.e., choose, among several candidates for rule.[1] However, more than likely, elections will be between two opposing parties. These two will be the most established and the most popular. For example, in the US the competition is between the Republicans and the Democrats. In an indirect democracy voting is the method by which the person elected (in charge) represents their policies and party, whilst making decisions, with regards to other authorities. For example, in the UK the prime minister has to make decisions with regards to the House Of Commons and House Of Lords. direct democracy, is the complete opposite, the person elected, has more independent control and does not need to get policies passed throughout the government.
In retrospect, a majority vote is when the mass of individual's vote for the same person. However, whilst each individuals choice for or against, does count, a lot of countries use geographic measures to decide who wins. For example, in the UK the person with the most constituencies wins, but they may not always have the most individual votes. Other countries who have liberal democracies, may use a secret ballot, hoping to prevent individuals from becoming influenced by other people and to protect their political privacy. The objective for secret ballots, is to try and get the most authentic outcome. A reasoning behind why this way of voting may capture a better result, is mainly to do with social influence. People may be obligated to vote for certain parties due to feeling pressured, having a lack of knowledge, or siding with what they think may be the majority, purely to fit in. Therefore, not only will the people feel more protected, they may also be able to vote for who they actually think will be the best representative.
Voting often takes place at a polling station; but can also be done by electronical voting systems, which has been used in India, Brazil and the Philippines. It is voluntary in some countries, like the UK, but it may be compulsory in others, such as Australia.
Due to countries having different rules about whether or not voting is compulsory, statistics showing how voting has changed will differ.
