A wasted vote is one that, had it been cast for the other candidate, the result of the election would have been the same. This will explain how to calculate wasted vote under different voting systems.
Sample election:
Michelle: 5,000
George: 2,900
Edward: 2,100
One way of evaluating legislatures is by identifying what percentage of the votes were cast for candidates that won an election. In First-Past-the-Post systems, this is all votes cast for the winning candidate in each constituency. In the Single Transferable Vote, one quota is counted for each surplus distributed, plus all votes for winning candidates in the final count. In proportional representation systems, we count votes for parties who won any seats in that constituency. This differs from wasted vote because it is still possible for votes to be wasted that were cast for the winning candidate. A successful wasted voter is still happy because they get representation.
| Country | Chamber-Election | Successful Vote | Electoral System |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | National Assembly-2019 | 98.22% | PR-Provinces |
| Sweden | Riksdag-2018 | 92.39% | PR-Constituencies |
| Israel | Knesset-2020 | 99.2% | PR-Nationwide |
| United States | House of Representatives-2018 | 38.9% | FPTP |
| Ireland | Dáil Éireann-2020 | 78.7% | STV |
| Greece | Hellenic Parliament-2019 | 79.39% | PR-Constituencies |
| United Kingdom | House of Commons-2019 | 52.54% | FPTP |
| Canada | House of Commons-2019 | 49.04% | FPTP |
| France | National Assembly-2017 | 58.3% | Two-Round |
| India | Lok Sabha-2019 | 52.7% | FPTP |
These parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom elected an MP of the same party in all four General Elections using the current map (2010, 2015, 2017, 2019)
There are 267 constituencies that elected Conservative MPs all four times, 169 that only elected Labour MPs, 3 for the SNP and Plaid Cymru, 2 for the Liberal Democrats, and Caroline Lucas held on in Brighton Pavillion for the Greens all four times. In Northern Ireland, the DUP held 6 seats, and Sinn Féin 4.