Electoral quota
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In proportional representation systems, an electoral quota is the number of votes a candidate needs to be guaranteed election.
Admissible quotas[edit]
An admissible quota is a quota that is guaranteed to apportion only as many seats as are available in the legislature. Such a quota can be any number between:[1]
Common quotas[edit]
There are two commonly-used quotas: the Hare and Droop quotas. The Hare quota is unbiased in the number of seats it hands out, and so is more proportional than the Droop quota (which tends to be biased towards larger parties);[2][3] however, the Droop quota guarantees that a party that wins a majority of votes will win at least half of all seats in a legislature.[4][5]
Hare quota[edit]
The Hare quota (also known as the simple quota or Hamilton's quota) is the most common the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation. It was used by Thomas Hare in his first proposals for STV. It is given by the expression:
Specifically, the Hare quota is unique in being unbiased in the number of seats it hands out. This makes it more proportional than the Droop quota (which is biased towards larger parties).[2]
Droop quota[edit]
The Droop quota is used in most single transferable vote (STV) elections today and is occasionally used in elections held under the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation (list PR). It is given by the expression:[1][6]
It was first proposed in 1868 by the English lawyer and mathematician Henry Richmond Droop (1831–1884) as a replacement for the earlier Hare quota.
Today the Droop quota is used in almost all STV elections, including those in India, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Malta, and Australia.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Pukelsheim, Friedrich (2017), Pukelsheim, Friedrich (ed.), "Quota Methods of Apportionment: Divide and Rank", Proportional Representation: Apportionment Methods and Their Applications, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 95–105, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-64707-4_5, ISBN 978-3-319-64707-4, retrieved 2024-05-10
- ^ a b Lijphart, Arend (1994). "Appendix A: Proportional Representation Formulas". Electoral Systems and Party Systems: A Study of Twenty-Seven Democracies, 1945-1990. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Pukelsheim, Friedrich (2017), Pukelsheim, Friedrich (ed.), "Favoring Some at the Expense of Others: Seat Biases", Proportional Representation: Apportionment Methods and Their Applications, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 127–147, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-64707-4_7, ISBN 978-3-319-64707-4, retrieved 2024-05-10
- ^ Balinski, Michel L.; Young, H. Peyton (1982). Fair Representation: Meeting the Ideal of One Man, One Vote. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02724-9.
- ^ Pukelsheim, Friedrich (2017), Pukelsheim, Friedrich (ed.), "Tracing Peculiarities: Vote Thresholds and Majority Clauses", Proportional Representation: Apportionment Methods and Their Applications, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 207–223, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-64707-4_11, ISBN 978-3-319-64707-4, retrieved 2024-05-10
- ^ Woodall, Douglass. "Properties of Preferential Election Rules". Voting matters (3).
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