Plurality voting

Part of the Politics series
Electoral systems
Single-winner/majoritarian Plurality First-past-the-post Plurality at-large (plurality block voting) General ticket (party block voting) Multi-round voting Two-round Exhaustive ballot Primary election Nonpartisan unified top-four Majority at-large (two-round block voting) Ranked / preferential systems Instant-runoff (alternative vote) Contingent vote Coombs' method Condorcet methods (Copeland's, Dodgson's, Kemeny–Young, Minimax, Nanson's, ranked pairs, Schulze, Alternative Smith) Positional voting (Borda count, Nauru/Dowdall method) Bucklin voting Oklahoma primary electoral system Preferential block voting Cardinal / graded systems Score voting Approval voting Combined approval voting Unified primary Usual judgment Satisfaction approval voting Majority judgment STAR voting
Proportional representation Party-list Electoral list open list closed list local lists Apportionment Sainte-Laguë D'Hondt Huntington–Hill Hare Droop Imperiali Hagenbach-Bischoff National remnant Highest averages Largest remainder Proportional forms of ranked voting Single transferable vote Gregory Wright Schulze STV CPO-STV Ranked party list PR Spare vote Proportional forms of cardinal voting Proportional approval voting Sequential proportional approval voting Method of Equal Shares Phragmen's voting rules Biproportional apportionment Fair majority voting Weighted voting Direct representation Interactive representation Liquid democracy
Mixed systems By type of representation Mixed-member majoritarian Mixed-member proportional Non-compensatory mixed systems Parallel voting Majority bonus Compensatory mixed systems Additional member system Mixed single vote (positive vote transfer) Scorporo (negative vote transfer) Mixed ballot transferable vote Alternative Vote Plus Dual-member proportional Rural–urban proportional
Other systems and related theory Semi-proportional representation Single non-transferable vote Limited voting Cumulative voting Binomial voting Other systems Multiple non-transferable vote Double simultaneous vote Proxy voting Delegated voting Indirect STV Liquid democracy Random selection (sortition, random ballot) Supermajority Social choice theory Arrow's theorem Gibbard–Satterthwaite theorem Public choice theory Veto Players List of electoral systems List of electoral systems by country Comparison of electoral systems Effects of electoral systems Political fragmentation Political efficacy Voter turnout
Politics portal
v t e

Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate in an electoral district who polls more than any other (that is, receives a plurality) is elected. Used for elections of representative bodies, it competes with the proportional representation^[1] (where the composition of the body reflects the percentage of the votes received across all districts). In systems based on single-member districts, the plurality system elects just one member per district and is then frequently called a "first-past-the-post" (FPTP), sometimes "single-member [district] plurality" (SMP/SMDP).^[2] A system that elects multiple winners elected at once with the plurality rule and where each voter casts multiple X votes in a multi-seat district is referred to as plurality block voting. A semi-proportional system that elects multiple winners elected at once with the plurality rule and where each voter casts just one vote in a multi-seat district is known as single non-transferable voting.

Plurality voting is distinguished from majority voting, in which a winning candidate must receive an absolute majority of votes: more than half of all votes (more than all other candidates combined if each voter has one vote). Under single-winner plurality voting, the leading candidate, whether or not they have a majority of votes, is elected.^[3]

Plurality voting is widely used throughout the English-speaking world as a result of its spread by the British Empire, including in most of the United States. Outside of the English-speaking world, it is slightly less popular than its close cousin, the runoff family of methods.

Social choice theorists and electoral reform advocates are generally opposed to plurality voting and its variants, citing major issues such as a high vulnerability to spoilers, a tendency towards duopoly and lesser of two evils voting, and their bias toward extremist candidates (as a result of failing the median voter theorem).