Ticket (election)

Last updated

The term ticket can mean different things in relation to elections of councils or legislative bodies. First, it may refer to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in Guyana, the candidates for President and Parliament run on the same "ticket", because they are elected together on a single ballot question — as a vote for a given party-list in the Parliamentary election counts as a vote for the party's corresponding presidential candidate — rather than separately.

A ticket can also refer to a political group or political party. In this case, the candidates for a given party are said to be running on the party's ticket. "Straight party voting" (most common in some U.S. states) is voting for the entire party ticket, including every office for which the party has a candidate running. [1] Particularly in the era of mechanical voting machines, it was possible to accomplish this in many jurisdictions by the use of a "party lever" which automatically cast a vote for each member of the party by the activation of a single lever. "Ticket splitters" are people who vote for candidates from more than one political party when they vote for public offices, voting on the basis of individual personalities and records instead of on the basis of party loyalties.

While a ticket usually does refer to a political party, they are not legally the same. In rare cases, members of a political party can run against their party's official candidate by running with a rival party's ticket label or creating a new ticket under an independent or ad hoc party label depending on the jurisdiction's election laws. Depending on the party's rules, these rogue members may retain the membership of their original party. Thus two individuals from one political party can oppose each other under different tickets. This was the case for Taiwanese politician James Soong, who withdrew from the Kuomintang and ran against its official candidate, Lien Chan, for election as President in the 2000 elections; in the subsequent election in 2004, Soong ran as Lien's running mate.

Political party factions may also sponsor tickets in primary elections. [2] When that occurs, several candidates, usually one for each office for which the party's nomination is being contested in the primary, endorse one another and may make joint appearances and share advertising with the goal of securing the party's nomination for the office each is seeking for all ticket members. This system was frequently seen in the "Solid South" era in the Southern United States when there was no effective two party system and victory in the Democratic Party primary was considered to be "tantamount to election".

As well in Australia, the variant of STV used for the Commonwealth upper houses and state upper houses may allow voters to mark a preference for a "ticket" (party slate) and not have to mark preferences for individual candidates. A vote marked for a ticket is used to elect just one candidate for the party. [3]

Republican Party ticket from 1865 gubernatorial election in Massachusetts. The Republican candidate, Alexander H. Bullock, defeated Democratic challenger Darius N. Couch. Mass Republican ticket.jpg
Republican Party ticket from 1865 gubernatorial election in Massachusetts. The Republican candidate, Alexander H. Bullock, defeated Democratic challenger Darius N. Couch.
Flyer for 2008 Democratic Party ticket in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Even though a "ticket" is no longer a physical reality in voting, parties still push the notion of voting for them in every race on the ballot. ElectoralTicketFlyer.jpg
Flyer for 2008 Democratic Party ticket in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Even though a "ticket" is no longer a physical reality in voting, parties still push the notion of voting for them in every race on the ballot.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two-round system</span> Voting system

The two-round system, also called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single winner voting method. It is sometimes called plurality-runoff, although this term can also be used for other, closely-related systems such as instant-runoff voting or the exhaustive ballot. It falls under the class of plurality-based voting rules, together with instant-runoff and first-past-the-post (FPP). In a two-round system, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, the two candidates with the most votes in the first round proceed to a second round where all other candidates are excluded. Both rounds are held under choose-one voting, where the voter marks a single favored candidate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single transferable vote</span> Multi-winner electoral system

The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV), is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternative preferences if their preferred candidate is eliminated or elected with surplus votes, so that their vote is used to elect someone they prefer over others in the running. STV aims to approach proportional representation based on votes cast in the district where it is used, so that each vote is worth about the same as another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voting</span> Method to make collective decisions

Voting refers to the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representatives by voting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-Blue Coalition</span> Political coalition in Taiwan (Republic of China)

The Pan-Blue coalition, Pan-Blue force or Pan-Blue groups is a political coalition in the Republic of China (Taiwan) consisting of the Kuomintang (KMT), People First Party (PFP), New Party (CNP), Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU), and Young China Party (YCP). The name comes from the party color of the Kuomintang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People First Party (Taiwan)</span> Political party in the Republic of China

The People First Party is a centrist or centre-right political party in Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Soong</span> Chairman of People First Party, former Governor of Taiwan Province

James Soong Chu-yu is a Taiwanese politician who is the founder and current Chairman of the People First Party. Soong was the first and only elected Governor of Taiwan Province from 1994 and 1998. He was a candidate in the 2000 presidential election, which he lost to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primary election</span> Election that narrows the field of candidates before an election for office

Primary elections or primaries are elections that are held to determine which candidates will run for an upcoming general election. Party primaries are elections in which a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the country and administrative division, there may be an "open primary", in which all voters are eligible to participate, or a "closed primary", in which only members of a political party can vote.

A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th century.

A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position but can also properly be used when referring to both candidates, such as by saying Donald Trump and JD Vance, and William Ruto and Raila Odinga, were running mates in relation to the presidential elections held in the United States in 2024 and Kenya in 2012 respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 Taiwanese presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 18 March 2000 to elect the president and vice president. With a voter turnout of 83%, Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were elected president and vice president respectively with a slight plurality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Taiwanese presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 20 March 2004. A consultative referendum took place on the same day regarding relations with the People's Republic of China.

The electoral system of Australia comprises the laws and processes used for the election of members of the Australian Parliament and is governed primarily by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. The system presently has a number of distinctive features including compulsory enrolment; compulsory voting; majority-preferential instant-runoff voting in single-member seats to elect the lower house, the House of Representatives; and the use of the single transferable vote proportional representation system to elect the upper house, the Senate.

An electoraldistrict, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a subdivision of a larger state created to provide its population with representation in the larger state's legislature. That body, or the state's constitution or a body established for that purpose, determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a single member or multiple members. Generally, only voters (constituents) who reside within the district are permitted to vote in an election held there. District representatives may be elected by a first-past-the-post system, a proportional representative system, or another voting method. They may be selected by a direct election under universal suffrage, an indirect election, or another form of suffrage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the United States</span>

In the politics of the United States, elections are held for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College. Today, these electors almost always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties, cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages; as well as for special districts and school districts which may transcend county and municipal boundaries.

A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member electoral divisions with single transferable voting, a group or party registers a GVT before an election with the electoral commission. When a voter selects a group or party above the line on a ballot paper, their vote is distributed according to the registered GVT for that group.

An open primary is a primary election that does not require voters to be affiliated with a political party in order to vote for partisan candidates. In a traditional open primary, voters may select one party's ballot and vote for that party's nomination. As in a closed primary, the highest voted candidate in each party then proceeds to the general election. In a nonpartisan blanket primary, all candidates appear on the same ballot and the two highest voted candidates proceed to the runoff election, regardless of party affiliation. The constitutionality of this system was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party in 2008, whereas a partisan blanket primary was previously ruled to be unconstitutional in 2000. The arguments for open primaries are that voters can make independent choices, building consensus that the electoral process is not splintered or undermined by the presence of multiple political parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonpartisan blanket primary</span> Type of primary election

A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan elections, which are segregated by political party. Nonpartisan primaries differ from the two-round system in that the second round is never skipped, even if one candidate receives a majority in the first round.

In political science, straight-ticket voting or straight-party voting refers to the practice of voting for every candidate that a political party has on a general election ballot. In some states, ballots may offer a straight-ticket voting option, sometimes known as a master lever or group voting ticket, that allows voters to check a box and vote for all of a party's candidates, instead of voting for each race individually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Taiwanese presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 14 January 2012. The election was held concurrently with legislative elections. It was the fifth direct election for the President of the Republic of China. Prior to 1996, the President was elected by the ROC's National Assembly and not directly by the people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States presidential election</span> An election in United States of America

The election of the president and for vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not directly for those offices, but instead for members of the Electoral College. These electors then cast direct votes, known as electoral votes, for president and for vice president. The candidate who receives an absolute majority of electoral votes is then elected to that office. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes for president, the House of Representatives elects the president; likewise if no one receives an absolute majority of the votes for vice president, then the Senate elects the vice president.

References

  1. "Straight-Ticket Voting" National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  2. "Voting and Electioneering, 1789–1899". americanhistory.si.edu. 2017-05-11. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  3. Farell and McAllister (2006). The Australian Electoral System. UNSW Press. pp. 60–61.