Plurality block voting

Plurality block voting is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled.[1] The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates divide into parties is that the most-popular party in the district sees its full slate of candidates elected, even if the party does not have support of majority of the voters.[2]

The term plurality at-large is in common usage in elections for representative members of a body who are elected or appointed to represent the whole membership of the body (for example, a city, state or province, nation, club or association). Where the system is used in a territory divided into multi-member electoral districts the system is commonly referred to as "block voting" or the "bloc vote". These systems are usually based on a single round of voting.

The party-list version of block voting is party block voting (PBV), also called the general ticket, which also elects members by plurality in multi-member districts. In such a system, each party puts forward a slate of candidates, a voter casts just one vote, and the party winning a plurality of votes sees its whole slate elected, winning all the seats.

Plurality block voting is distinct from party block voting.

  1. ^ "Election - Plurality, Majority, Systems | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  2. ^ In 1921 Liberal party took all the Edmonton seats with about 35 percent of the votes. A Report on Alberta Elections, 1905-1982