A voting system criterion refers to a set of principles or standards used to evaluate and compare different methods or systems of voting in order to determine their fairness, effectiveness, and suitability for a particular purpose. These criteria help to assess the quality and functionality of a voting system, ensuring its ability to accurately represent the will of the voters.
The purpose of voting system criteria is to establish a framework for evaluating the various aspects and features of a voting system, such as simplicity, neutrality, proportionality, and independence of irrelevant alternatives. These criteria assist in identifying any potential flaws, biases, or shortcomings within a voting system, allowing for improvements or modifications to be made.
One common criterion is the majority criterion, which states that if a choice or candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes, it should be declared the winner. Other common criteria include the Condorcet criterion, which focuses on identifying the candidate who would win in head-to-head matchups against all other candidates, and the monotonicity criterion, which stipulates that the altering of a voter's preference towards a candidate should never harm the chances of that candidate winning.
Overall, voting system criteria serve as a set of guidelines to evaluate and improve the fairness, accuracy, and representativeness of various voting methods, ensuring that voting systems effectively uphold the principles of democracy and encourage the active participation of citizens.
