Example
Consider an election where candidates A, B and C receive 6000, 3100 and 701 votes respectively.
If this is a plurality voting election for a single seat, Candidate A has a plurality of votes and is therefore elected. The wasted votes are:
- All 3801 votes for candidates B and C, since these did not elect any candidate
- In the wider definition, 2899 of the votes for candidate A are wasted, since A would still have won with only 3101 votes. Therefore 6700 out of 9801 votes are wasted.
If the same votes for A, B and C are cast in a d'Hondt method election for 12 seats, then the seats are split 8-4-0 for A-B-C. The wasted votes are:
- All 701 votes for party C, which won no seats.
- In the wide definition, also wasted are:
- 399 votes for A, since A would still have won 8 seats with only 5601 votes against 3100 and 701. (With 5600 votes for A, the last seat would go to C).
- 299 votes for B, since only with 2800 votes would B lose the last seat to C.
A majority of votes are always wasted (in the wider sense) in a single-seat election, unless there are exactly 2 candidates and the margin of victory is exactly 1 vote. Multi-seat constituencies reduce the number of wasted votes as long as proportional representation is used. (When used with winner-take-all systems, as with the US Electoral College, multi-member constituencies may see the wasted vote reach or exceed 50%).
Read more about this topic: Wasted Vote
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