scholarly journals Youth Enfranchisement: A Case For A More Democratic Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-37
Author(s):  
Leonard Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Current System ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
Representation Versus ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Voting Age

Despite granting its citizens universal suffrage, Canada continues to experience declining numbers in voter turnout (Achen, 2019). As fewer Canadians choose to participate in the electoral process, the very foundations of liberal democracy come into question as the legitimacy of a government elected by a dwindling number of supporters becomes increasingly unclear. While the topic of electoral reform is dominated by the debate over proportional representation versus the first-past-the-post system, this paper instead focuses on the legal voting age. I contend that lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 in Canada will create a more equitable, fair, and inclusive electoral system, thus strengthening fundamental democratic values. In this essay, I will discuss how the current system is unfairly excluding youth from participating in decisions that affect their future, why the argument for maintaining the current age is flawed, and how a lower voting age would increase political interest and create a more engaged electorate. 

scholarly journals Counting Everyone: PMM, a Model for Electoral Reform in Canada

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Osberg
Keyword(s):  
Current System ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Voter Participation ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Representation System ◽  
Minimal Set ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

Declining voter participation, strategic-voting campaigns, public opinion polls, and myriad other signals highlight the need to improve Canada's current first-past-the-post electoral system. How the system ought to be changed, however, remains unclear. This paper briefly reviews candidate models for electoral reform from other nations, before putting forward the parsimonious mixed-member (PMM) model. This model was inspired by the mixed-member (MM) proportional representation system, as currently used in, for example, Germany. It is 'parsimonious', however, in the sense that the number of additional MPs brought into parliament to reach proportionality is minimized. Like traditional MM, PMM preserves the individual relationship between every voter and an MP, and it eliminates under-representation of parties. Unlike traditional MM, however, it also preserves the incentive for parties to win local races, it avoids unnecessary dilution of constituency representatives, and it avoids misattributing spoiled ballots to major parties. As such, it can be thought of as an optimization of MM. A key feature of this model is conservatism -it modifies our existing system with the minimal set of changes necessary to resolve the most obvious problems in the current system, without creating new ones. It fixes only what is broken.

Reforming the Electoral System of the Dutch Lower House of Parliament: An Unsuccessful Story

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1133-1146
Author(s):  
Gert-Jan Leenknegt ◽  
Gerhard van der Schyff
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Current System ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Strong Bond ◽  
Lower House ◽  
History Of ◽  
Accurate Reflection

Which element of democracy is to prevail in the composition of parliament: an accurate reflection of minorities and their ideas, or a strong bond between citizens and their representatives? The answer, it seems, is to be determined to a large extent by the national political culture. The political history of the Netherlands makes strict proportionality the highest principle in this regard. Over the years, various attempts at fundamental electoral reform have been left stranded. It seems that the current system of proportional representation will remain intact in the Netherlands in spite of periodic attempts at change, as it probably best reflects the Dutch culture's longing for maximum inclusiveness.

Wahlsystemreform in Deutschland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy Matauschek
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Parallel Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Suitable Alternative ◽  
Representation Systems ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Alternative Vote

Is plurality or majority electoral reform a sensible option in Germany’s muddled electoral system debate? Yes, it is. Since Germany’s mixed-member proportional system fails to concentrate the party system in a sufficient way, Peggy Matauschek searches for a suitable alternative to the principle of proportional representation. She discusses the following options according to their contextual conditions: single-member plurality and majority electoral systems—like the alternative vote system—, parallel systems, proportional representation systems with a low district magnitude and majority bonus systems. In light of its balanced performance, the study advocates the introduction of a system with a majority bonus for a coalition.

The 2016 Electoral Reform in Mongolia: From Mixed System and Multiparty Competition to FPTP and One-Party Dominance

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Maškarinec
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
District Level ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Party Dominance ◽  
Duverger's Law

This article tests the effects of a new electoral system that was introduced in Mongolia for the June 2016 elections. The decision to implement a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system instead of a mixed-member majoritarian (MMM) system, which was first and last used in the previous elections of 2012, was due to the April 2016 ruling of the Mongolian Constitutional Court on unconstitutionality of the list tier as one of the mechanisms for distributing seats within MMM. Through an analysis of national- and district-level results, this article addresses the question whether electoral competition at the district level was consistent with Duverger’s law and resulted in the restoration of bipartism, which had been disrupted in 2012 due to the use of MMM.

scholarly journals Newly Enfranchised Voters: Political Attitudes of Under 18-Year Olds in the Context of the Referendum on Scotland's Constitutional Future

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Eichhorn
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
Voting Age

This paper summarises results from the only representative and comprehensive survey of Scots under the age of 18 who will be enfranchised to vote in the referendum in September 2014 following the lowering of the voting age to 16. Many claims have been made about young people and their alleged disengagement from politics. This paper challenges such assertions and suggests that political interest amongst young people is similar to that of adults, however there is an observed distance to existing institutionalised actors such as political parties. In addition, the paper explores how young people form their attitudes on the issue. In doing so it criticises those who claimed that young people would be easily biased to vote in a particular way by their parents or teachers as no such negative effects can be observed.

Electoral Reform and the Electronic Voting System

2020 ◽  
pp. 182-204
Author(s):  
Dashbalbar Gangabaatar
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Electronic Voting ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Election Process ◽  
Election System ◽  
Voting System ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Electronic Voting System

Mongolia introduced a new electronic voting system for the first time for the 2012 parliamentary election. E-voting empowers citizens by making voting simpler and providing better opportunities for certain groups of citizens to participate in the election process. The electoral reform was one of the major steps the parliament carried out in order to restore public trust lost in the violent protests against the 2008 parliamentary election results. A free, transparent, and fair electoral system was important to correct the fraud in the old election system. This chapter examines the effectiveness of the mixed system of election, the electronic voting system, the constitutionality of the electoral systems, and other changes to the electoral system in Mongolia.

Why Studying State Voting Laws Is Not Enough

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-50
Author(s):  
Michael Ritter
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Omitted Variables ◽  
Early Voting ◽  
Election Administration ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
State Adoption ◽  
Voting Decisions ◽  
Voting Laws

Early studies of the effects of voter laws on turnout often showed that early voting, absentee, and mail voting had limited impacts on voter turnout, with only same day registration consistently linked to higher turnout. Much of the previous research measured these laws in isolation (although most states have combinations of the laws), omitted measurement of election administration, did not account for possible selection bias in state adoption of the laws, focused on overall voter turnout rather than that for disadvantaged groups, and did not measure the effects of the laws on campaign mobilization strategies. Census data used in previous studies omitted variables (e.g., political interest and partisanship) known to influence voting decisions. Building on research from 2000s and 2010s, Chapter 3 emphasizes how causal inference research design and national voter files can lead to more precise estimations of the effects of convenience voting laws and election administration on voter turnout.

The Electoral System, the Party System and Accountability in Parliamentary Government

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 744-760 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER KAM ◽  
ANTHONY M. BERTELLI ◽  
ALEXANDER HELD
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Party System ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Electoral Accountability ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Parliamentary Government

Electoral accountability requires that voters have the ability to constrain the incumbent government’s policy-making power. We express the necessary conditions for this claim as an accountability identity in which the electoral system and the party system interact to shape the accountability of parliamentary governments. Data from 400 parliamentary elections between 1948 and 2012 show that electoral accountability is contingent on the party system’s bipolarity, for example, with parties arrayed in two distinct blocs. Proportional electoral systems achieve accountability as well as majoritarian ones when bipolarity is strong but not when it is weak. This is because bipolarity decreases the number of connected coalitions that incumbent parties can join to preserve their policy-making power. Our results underscore the limitations that party systems place on electoral reform and the benefits that bipolarity offers for clarifying voters’ choices and intensifying electoral competition.

Consolidating democracy? The structural underpinnings of Ghana's 2000 elections

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
New Era ◽  
Detailed Assessment ◽  
Structural Inequalities

In 2000, Ghana's landmark elections ushered in a new era of democracy. Scholars, however, have yet to scrutinise the structural underpinnings of the country's electoral system. This article offers a detailed assessment of Ghana's bloated voters' register, patterns of voter turnout and the lingering accusation of electoral irregularities in the Volta and Ashanti Regions in the 2000 elections. Most significantly, it critically analyses the severe malapportionment of the country's 200 parliamentary seats. While the 2000 elections helped to consolidate the democratic process in Ghana, structural inequalities continue to plague the country's electoral system.

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