Comparing Electoral Systems

Plurality Voting (FPTP)

Pick One (1) · One (1) Winner

Plurality voting — also called First-Past-the-Post — is a method where the option with the most votes wins, even without a majority.

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The Setup

How Plurality Voting Works

Walk through a single race. Every voter picks one candidate, the front-runner takes the seat — then watch what that simple rule produces.

Cast Your Vote

Each voter picks exactly one candidate, and whoever gets the most votes wins the seat — a majority is never required.

Candidate Selection

The Candidates & Their Votes

In this example G (Blue) wins with just 30% — over 70% of voters preferred someone else, yet their votes elect no one.

Candidate	Faction	Count	Vote Share
A	🟥 Red	50,000	5%
B	🟧 Orange	250,000	25%
D	🟨 Yellow	200,000	20%
F	🟩 Green	120,000	12%
G	🟦 Blue	300,000	30%
J	🟪 Purple	80,000	8%

What the Vote Produces

Follow one race from the votes cast to who ends up ruling. Each step uses the real numbers from the ballot above.

Vote Share

A majority — over 50% — is never required to win in this system.

Outcome

No matter how many options run, the choice with the most votes beats all others — even with only minority support.

Seat Control

Here G (Blue) takes the seat over more than 70% of voters, on just 30% support.

Committee Control

Winning that single seat with a minority of the vote, one faction still takes full control of the committee.

The Cost

How Plurality Decays Over Time

A minority winner is only the start. Repeat the same rule across elections and it pushes everyone into two permanent camps.

Problems at Scale Over Time

Voters compromise their own interests and coalesce permanently under a single identity and banner after each election until two permanent camps emerge and swap power between themselves over time.

1st Election Cycle

Blue🟦 wins with 30% of the vote, capitalizing on the divided opposition. In response, 🟨 Yellow decides to merge with Orange🟧 for the next election, aiming to strengthen their combined position.

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟥 Red	50,000	5%
🟧 Orange	250,000	25%
🟨 Yellow	200,000	20%
🟩 Green	120,000	12%
🟦 Blue	300,000	30%
🟪 Purple	80,000	8%

2nd Election Cycle

In the second election, Orange🟧 wins with 45% of the vote, thanks to the support from 🟨 Yellow. In response, Blue🟦 and Purple🟪 consolidate with Green🟩for the next cycle, aiming to build a stronger coalition.

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟥 Red	50,000	5%
🟧 Orange	450,000	45%
🟩 Green	120,000	12%
🟦 Blue	300,000	30%
🟪 Purple	80,000	8%

3rd Election Cycle

Orange🟧 loses with 45%, as Blue🟦 wins with 50%, leveraging the vote split caused by Red🟥. Following this, Red🟥 consolidates under Orange🟧, resulting in a two-party system in subsequent cycles.

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟥 Red	50,000	5%
🟧 Orange	450,000	45%
🟦 Blue	500,000	50%

Two-Party Deadlock

In subsequent Election Cycles, two parties consolidate power and are incentivized to keep it for themselves. Power balances on a razor's edge in an escalating arms race of opposing ideologies.

Fourth Election Cycle

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟧 Orange	510,000	49%
🟦 Blue	490,000	51%

Fifth Election Cycle

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟧 Orange	490,000	49%
🟦 Blue	510,000	51%

The Trap

The Spoiler Effect

When a third choice enters, it splits the vote and hands victory to the side its own supporters least wanted.

Alternate Voices Locked Out

Plurality voting makes it impossible for alternate voices to be heard by making less established factions unelectable.

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟧 Orange	500,000	50%
🟦 Blue	450,000	45%
🟪 Purple	50,000	5%

Splitting the Vote Backfires

Every time a small party gains traction, the vote breaks in favor of the ideological opposite of the smaller party.

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟧 Orange	470,000	47%
🟨 Yellow	30,000	3%
🟩 Green	20,000	2%
🟦 Blue	480,000	48%

Honest Voting Punished

Under Plurality Voting, voting for one’s actual interests is disincentivized.

Faction	Count	Vote Share
🟥 Red	50,000	5%
🟧 Orange	450,000	45%
🟦 Blue	500,000	50%

The Slide

From Plurality to Autocracy

Left unchecked, winner-take-all rewards drawing the maps and raising the barriers to voting — democracy in form, autocracy in effect.

Over time democratic rule decays into autocratic rule and it’s accompanying consequences.

Strategic District Drawing

Power structures draw electoral maps so that future election results are likely to favor the status quo. This leads to autocratic election outcomes in most areas, resulting in government structures being unaccountable to the governed.

Strategic Configuration 1

In this configuration, the districts are drawn in such a way that Orange🟧, despite having 60% of the vote, wins all 5 districts, effectively locking out Blue🟦 from representation entirely.

🟧 Orange	🟦 Blue
5	0

Strategic Configuration 2

This configuration creates a slightly more balanced distribution, where Orange🟧 wins 3 districts and Blue🟦 wins 2. Here, the district lines are drawn to ensure that Orange🟧 retains a majority but allows some representation for Blue🟦.

🟧 Orange	🟦 Blue
3	2

Strategic Configuration 3

In this configuration, the districts are manipulated to favor Blue🟦 with 3 districts, while Orange🟧 wins only 2, despite Orange🟧 having a majority of the overall vote (60%). This is achieved by spreading Orange🟧 voters thinly across more districts while concentrating Blue🟦 voters in just enough districts to secure a win.

🟧 Orange	🟦 Blue
2	3

Suppressing the Vote

Where districts cannot be drawn to guarantee the outcome, the same power structures raise the cost of voting itself.

Defund Election Infrastructure

For the districts that are not predictable, or are predictably against the status quo, voting infrastructure can be removed, and barriers to voting and standing for office are put in place.

Target Rival Interests for Disenfranchisement

Target behaviors or attributes commonly associated with members of rival political blocks. Make it illegal and use it as a pretense to remove the right to vote.

Poll Taxes and Hidden Fees

Exploit Financial hardships in the most likely to be upset with the status quo to keep as many from voting as possible.

Non-Automatic Registration

Disenfranchisement via technical paperwork that need not exist in the first place.

Unsubsidized Identification Requirements

When combined with Registration Fees and Travel requirements, acquiring identification documents is a financial and time burden that applies disproportionately against those not benefiting in the status quo.

A More Representative Way

Proportional Ranked Choice Voting

No other system comes close to having the final outcome match the voters’ interests. Instead of handing the seat to a 30% plurality, PR-RCV shares seats in proportion to how people actually voted.

Head to Head

The Four Systems, Compared

The same electorate, four systems. Step through each — its real ballot, its real charts, and the share of voters it actually represents.

12% of voters represented