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Concept
Wasted vote
Summary
In electoral systems, a wasted vote is any vote that does not receive representation in the final election outcome. This includes lost votes for a losing candidate or party, and excess votes for winning candidates in excess of the minimum needed to win. When applied to ranked-vote systems, it includes exhausted votes, votes where none of the candidates the voter ranked are elected. Wasted vote share changes from one election to another depending on voter behavior. Wasted votes can lead to political apathy.
In plurality systems, wasted votes are a basis of the efficiency gap measure, which quantifies the bias in allocating voter preferences due to the shape of electoral districts. A non-zero efficiency gap indicates disproportionally: more wasted votes for one party. The efficiency gap has been called the most scrutinized method of measuring gerrymandering. In countries with a two-party system, the term "wasted vote" sometimes refers to votes for candidates finishing third or lower, which is related to the Duverger's Law.
In proportional electoral systems, representatives are elected in rough proportion to voter preferences, generally resulting in fewer wasted votes than in plurality voting. In proportional representation, the wasted vote is considered the total number of voters not represented by any party sitting in the legislature, also called unrepresented voters.
The wasted vote share is calculated as: where is the vote share of unrepresented party and is the overall number of unrepresented parties. The wasted vote can be given as a percentage of the total number of votes or as the absolute number of votes. Wasted votes in proportional representation increase with a higher electoral threshold, which is one of the ways to reduce political fragmentation. Even with no explicit electoral threshold, the natural electoral threshold causes some wasted votes.
On occasion, wasted votes in proportional representation have resulted in a party winning an outright majority of seats without winning an outright majority of votes, the sort of outcome that a proportional voting system is supposed to prevent.
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