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In the US, one can vote for any party (preferential voting). There are other parties in America but you seldom hear about them. Two examples are the Green Party

In the US, one can vote for any party (preferential voting). There are other parties in America but you seldom hear about them. Two examples are the Green Party and the Libertarian party.

Sargos 6y ago
In a first past the post system like the US has it will always mathematically be a 2 party system. Maybe the democrats or republicans actually self destruct and cease being a party and one of those other parties take its place but there can never be a 3 party government in our system as it's impossible.
- TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
  I suggest you read https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_States) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_St... A significant number of Libertarians have held and do hold state legislature positions and governorships. There is also currently 1 Libertarian in the US House of Representatives. Libertarian presidential candidates have received electoral college votes in the past. See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third_party_and_independent_performances_in_United_States_elections https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third_party_and_inde... And https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third-party_performances_in_United_States_presidential_elections https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third-party_performa...
lhopki01 6y ago
Preferential voting means you list the candidates in your order of preference. It means you can put your first choice for a small party and if they get eliminated by having the least votes your second choice becomes your vote and so on.
singlow 6y ago
Preferential Voting is a system by which you can rank your preferences rather than choosing a single candidate. You might range Green party first, Democrat second. There are various methods of tallying the votes, but it usually means that you can support the less popular candidate without giving up your weight in the choice between two frontrunners.
cyphar 6y ago
You may be more familiar with the term "Rank-Choice Voting". Outside of the US, that system (ranking the candidates in order of your preference, with runoff or similar allocation methods in the case that nobody gets a majority) is called preferential voting. Being able to vote for any candidate on the ballot paper is a consequence of having a secret ballot system (nobody knows who you voted for), not preferential voting.

In the US, one can vote for any party (preferential voting). There are other parties in America but you seldom hear about them. Two examples are the Green Party and the Libertarian party.

Sargos 6y ago

In a first past the post system like the US has it will always mathematically be a 2 party system. Maybe the democrats or republicans actually self destruct and cease being a party and one of those other parties take its place but there can never be a 3 party government in our system as it's impossible.

TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
I suggest you read https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_States) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_St... A significant number of Libertarians have held and do hold state legislature positions and governorships. There is also currently 1 Libertarian in the US House of Representatives. Libertarian presidential candidates have received electoral college votes in the past. See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third_party_and_independent_performances_in_United_States_elections https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third_party_and_inde... And https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third-party_performances_in_United_States_presidential_elections https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_third-party_performa...

lhopki01 6y ago

Preferential voting means you list the candidates in your order of preference. It means you can put your first choice for a small party and if they get eliminated by having the least votes your second choice becomes your vote and so on.

singlow 6y ago

Preferential Voting is a system by which you can rank your preferences rather than choosing a single candidate. You might range Green party first, Democrat second. There are various methods of tallying the votes, but it usually means that you can support the less popular candidate without giving up your weight in the choice between two frontrunners.

cyphar 6y ago

You may be more familiar with the term "Rank-Choice Voting". Outside of the US, that system (ranking the candidates in order of your preference, with runoff or similar allocation methods in the case that nobody gets a majority) is called preferential voting. Being able to vote for any candidate on the ballot paper is a consequence of having a secret ballot system (nobody knows who you voted for), not preferential voting.