[fvc-wat-disc] Possibly dumb question on FPTP...

[Bob Jonkman]

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The "proper" term for FPTP is "Single Member Plurality". And Jay's
right, there is no post, or rather, it's a continuously moving post.

With "Instant Runoff Voting" (or "Alternative Vote" or "Preferential
Ballot" or "Justin's Choice") there's a definitive post at 50%+1. With
"Single Transferable Vote" the post is (1/(#ofSeats + 1))+1 -- so with
four seats, any candidate getting at least %20+1 votes gets a seat,
with 9 seats any candidate getting at least 10%+1 votes gets a seat.

But with FPTP the post is the number of votes for the second-place
candidate. There's no definitive number, the winner just needs one
more vote than the next guy. Who knows what that might be?

Combining that with many single-member seats getting elected with a
minority of votes you get false majority governments with a minority
of votes, or even wrong-way winners where the party with the most
votes doesn't get the most seats.  This is really complicated to explain.

But in every single Proportional system (STV, MMP, List votes) the
%votes = %seats.  Easy to explain, and better for everyone.

- --Bob.



On 2018-02-04 04:41 PM, Dave Arthur wrote:
> Hi Jay The term comes from horse racing where the first horse that
> passes the post wins and all the others lose and get nothing. 
> That’s just what happens in each riding where the candidate that
> gets the most votes wins and the other candidates lose and all the
> votes that they received have no influence on the overall results
> whatsoever. The idea is that all votes should have some effect on
> the overall representation which is what PR achieves. Dave
> 
> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
> 
> From: Jay Judkowitz Sent: Sunday, February 4, 2018 3:14 PM To: FVC
> Waterloo Region Discussion Subject: [fvc-wat-disc] Possibly dumb
> question on FPTP...
> 
> So, does anyone know why it's actually called "first past the
> post"?
> 
> That name makes it sound like there is some marker there and it's a
> race to pass it.  Like, first past 30% wins.  But, there is no post
> at all, nothing that can be determined even knowing the number of
> candidates.  Shouldn't it be called something like "Plurality
> Voting" or "Plurality Takes All" or something more descriptive?
> 
> Thanks in advance for the education!
> 
> 
> 
> 
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- -- 
Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>          Phone: +1-519-635-9413
SOBAC Microcomputer Services             http://sobac.com/sobac/
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