Last summer, voters in New York discovered a new way to vote: in the Democratic primaries for the mayoral election, they were asked to choose not one candidate among the thirteen contenders, but five , listed in order of preference. The aim of the game ? Designate who will defend the colors of the party in the final against a Republican, but taking into account the votes of all, and not only the supporters of the favorites.
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All voices matter
This system has a name – preferential voting – and some see it as a solution to give a boost to democracy, where citizens are dragging their feet to get to the polling station. “This system makes all voices count, believes Deb Otis, of FairVote, an American NGO which campaigns in favor of this electoral mechanism.With preferential voting, even voters who prefer a more marginal candidate can weigh in. »
The principle is quite simple. If a candidate obtains the absolute majority of the first choices, nothing changes, he is elected. Otherwise, the contender with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the second choices of his voters are added to the votes of the candidates in question. And so on until a claimant crosses the threshold of absolute majority.
A mechanism that is gaining ground in the United States
This system is gaining more and more followers in the United States, where around fifty cities have already adopted it for local elections (mayor, sheriff, municipal councillors, etc.), including San Francisco and Minneapolis. “The parties realize that the preferential vote appeals to voters, assure Deb Otis. Fifty cities is good for a movement that only started in 2004.”
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Some recent studies already seem to indicate positive effects: an article published last year by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and the University of Iowa thus noted higher participation rates among young people in American cities that have introduced preferential voting. According to its promoters, this mechanism would also promote a more peaceful debate, the candidates moderating their attacks so as not to put off the voters of the other candidates, and run for their second choices.
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