Tied votes
Tie vote is a vote or election before, if ever equal number of votes for two (or several) opposing alternatives yet. This results in the impossibility of a decision, so that special procedures must be resorted to in order to bring about a decision.
Essence
In votes and elections, it can happen that opposing proposals (options, alternatives, motions, approval and rejection, candidacies, etc.) receive exactly the same number of votes. This creates a situation in which it is initially impossible to make a decision. In the worst case, this could lead to a standstill, which seems unbearable, especially in cases in which a decision cannot be postponed without disadvantage. Therefore, if a tie occurs, special procedures are carried out with which a decision can nonetheless be brought about.
Origin and special features
A tie can typically occur under different circumstances. If the number of voters or voters is even, it can be relatively easy with controversial issues that exactly half of them tend to one side and the other; this is one reason why boards are often composed of an odd number of members. Absenteeism, fluctuating voter turnout, abstention or invalid voting, however, can easily cancel the effect of an odd number; often "missing" votes (from abstentions, absences, etc.) can just lead to a tie. The effect of absences, abstentions, etc. The like can be counteracted by introducing compulsory voting or voting. In collegiate courts, for example, it is prescribed that all judges must cast one vote and are not allowed to abstain or vote empty. As a further preventive measure, the possibility of substitution should be mentioned.
The design of the voting or election process itself has a very large influence on the likelihood of a tie. A majority vote with a relative majority is e.g. B. more susceptible to a tied vote than one with an absolute majority, because with a relative majority no decision can be made if three candidates have received the same number of votes. Proportional suffrage is fundamentally immune to equality of votes: Then the lists concerned simply receive the same number of seats; Tied votes only become problematic within a list if, when the last seat on the list was allocated, two or more eligible list candidates should have received the same number of votes. When voting on factual issues (yes-no decisions), the order of the procedure contributes significantly to the creation or prevention of a tie. If voting is carried out in such a way that all motions put forward on the same subject are put to the vote at the same time, it can happen that two or more motions each receive the same number of votes and none of them comes out on top. A better procedure is to put the applications in a sequence and vote on two of them in pairs, to place the respective winner in the next as yet untreated proposal and to vote again in pairs (cup system). A third possibility is to first vote separately on each proposal with yes or no, in order to determine which proposals are out of the question at all. Only those that have been accepted in principle are then compared with one another.
Solution method
The occurrence of a tie does not in itself pose a problem if a previously defined solution procedure is available, which nonetheless leads to a clear decision. Essentially, the problem of equality of votes can be limited to the determination of the appropriate solution procedure.
The most important conceivable and actually used processes are as follows:
- Decision rule established in advance. For example, a tie in court means acquittal, a tie in a vote means rejection, in an election the older candidate (France, catholic church law) or the incumbent is elected.
- Appeal to another body. For example, parliament elects the president in the event of a tie in the electoral committee (USA); in the event of a tie in an organ, the decision of the preparatory / applicant body applies.
- Cast decision, usually by the President * a. The President's vote counts twice. The difference between 3 and 3a is that with 3 the person authorized to cast a casting vote must expressly cast his or her vote and can make a different decision than before; in 3a, the vote already cast is counted twice. Eg Switzerland: Federal President in the Federal Council.
- Repeat the election / vote. For example, second ballot in an absolute majority vote, runoff election.
- Drawing lots. For example in general in elections in Switzerland, but also in Germany in federal elections for the election of the constituency candidate with the first vote.
- Recourse to another decision criterion. For example, when voting on lists with the same number of votes for two lists: In which list did the candidate in question receive more individual votes for the seat to be allocated?
- Prevention through an uneven number of members of an organ, representation, prohibition of abstention, etc. Eg in collegiate courts.
However, recounting of the votes cast should not count among these solution procedures, since this is not an approach to bring about a decision despite a tie, but only a test procedure to ensure whether there is actually a tie.
References
A tie vote is called a tie vote; breaking a tie is called breaking a tie. See the tie-break procedure in sport, especially tennis . There are structurally related resolution mechanisms not only in sport, but also in the area of EDP / programming, error handling , default routines , and interrupts .
literature
- Lorz, Ralph, The Danger of Equality of Votes , Zeitschrift für Rechtssppolitik 2003, 36-39
- Meier-Scherling, Anne-Gudrun, voting results in the event of a tie , Deutsche Richterzeitung 1966, 341
- Schmidt, Thorsten Ingo, The decision in spite of a tie , jurist newspaper 2003, 133 - 138
- Starck, Christian, The justification for decisions issued by the Federal Constitutional Court with a tied vote , in: Verfassungsrecht und Völkerrecht, 1989, pp. 789–802