This research note examines a formally derived property of unit rule voting systems. It is found that the propensity of a unit voting rule to misrepresent the popular vote is related to the character of within-unit competitiveness.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bickel, A.M. ( 1968) The New Age of Political ReformNew York: Harper & Row.
2.
Coleman, S. (1975) Measurement and Analysis of Political SystemsNew York: John Wiley.
3.
Eldersveld, S. (1949) "The influence of metropolitan elections since 1920: a study of twelve key cities."Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev.43: 1189-1206.
Hinich, M.J., R. Mickelsen, and P. Ordeshook (1975) "The electoral college vs. a direct vote: policy bias, reversals and indeterminate outcomes."J. of Mathematical Sociology4: 3-31.
6.
Hinich, M.J. and P.C. Ordeshook (1974) "The electoral college: a spatial analysis."Pol. Methodology1: 1-30.
7.
Holland, L.M. (1949) The Direct Primary in GeorgiaUrbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.
8.
Key, V.O. (1949) Southern Politics in State and NationNew York: Vintage.
9.
Kousser, J.M. (1974) The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restrictions and the Establishment of the One Party South 1880-1910New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
10.
Longley, L.D. and A.G. Braun (1972) The Politics of Electoral College ReformNew Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
11.
Rosenthal, A. (1968) "Some doubts concerning the proposal to elect the president by direct popular vote."Villanova Law Rev.14: 87-95.
12.
Sayre, A. (1950) "Georgia's county unit system."J. of Politics12: 93-106.
13.
Sayre, W.S. and J. Parris (1970) Voting for PresidentWashington, DC: Brookings.
14.
Sindler, A. (1962) "Presidential election methods and other ethnic interests."Law and Contemporary Problems27: 212-233.
15.
Sterling, C.W. (1974) "The electoral college and the impact of popular vote distributions."Amer. Politics Q.2: 179-204.
16.
Thiel, H. (1972) Statistical Decomposition AnalysisNew York: Elsevier North-Holland.
17.
Tufte, E.R. (1973) "The relationship between seats and votes in two party systems."Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 67: 540-554.
18.
Uslaner, E.M. (1976) "Spatial models of the electoral college: distribution, assumptions and biases of the system."Pol. Methodology4: 355-361.
19.
Zeidenstein, H. (1973) Direct Election of the PresidentLexington, MA: D. C. Heath.