next up previous
Next: Declared-Strategy Voting Systems: Motivations Up: Voting Systems Overview Previous: Motivations for Change

Summary

This chapter has provided a general overview of the types of voting systems available and the issues that must be considered when selecting a voting system. We have seen that no perfect vote aggregation procedures exist for choosing between three or more alternatives. We have also seen that advances in computer technology have made new types of ballot collection systems possible and made complicated vote-aggregation procedures more feasible. Finally we have seen that major changes in voting systems at the national level are rare, but that minor changes at the national level and major changes at the local level and in non-governmental organizations are more common. Changes in voting systems most often occur at times of great political change and in response to perceived problems with the results of a past election or the expected results of a future election. Voter education is usually necessary to convince people to adopt a new system.

In the next chapter several of the issues presented here will be discussed in more detail and the motivations and design for a new vote aggregation procedure will be presented.



lorrie@acm.org