The random ballot voting method takes the one person one vote principle to an extreme by only counting the vote of one person. In an election or referendum, the ballot of a single voter is selected at random, and that ballot decides the result of the election. Voters at the voting booths in the US in 1945 Voting systems are methods (algorithms) for groups of people to select one or more options from many, taking into account the individual preferences of the group members. ... An election is a decision making process where people choose people to hold official offices. ... Ballots of the Argentine plebiscite of 1984 on the border treaty with Chile A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ...

The random ballot method is decisive, in that there is no possibility of a tied vote, assuming that the selected voter has expressed a preference (if not then another ballot can be selected at random). It is unbiased in that the probability of a particular result is equal to the proportion of total support that that result has in all the votes. It is also strategy-free in that there is no advantage in tactical voting. Bias has several different meanings, most relating to an offset or prejudice of some sort. ... Informally, probable is one of several words applied to uncertain events or knowledge, being closely related in meaning to likely, risky, hazardous, and doubtful. ... In voting systems, tactical voting (or strategic voting) occurs when a voter misrepresents his or her sincere preferences in order to gain a more favorable outcome. ...

But it is not deterministic, in that a different random selection could have produced a different result, and it undermines majority rule since there is a substantial possibility that the selected voter may be in the minority. A majority is a subset of a group that is more than half of the entire group. ... The definition of a minority group can vary, depending on specific context, but generally refers to either a sociological sub-group that does not form either a majority or a plurality of the total population, or a group that, while not necessarily a numerical minority, is disadvantaged or otherwise has...

It is less a practical form of democracy and more a theoretical method designed to explain some of the properties of other voting methods, although it is occasionally used in real life as a tiebreaker for other methods. Voters at the voting booths in the US in 1945 Voting systems are methods (algorithms) for groups of people to select one or more options from many, taking into account the individual preferences of the group members. ...

This system has been advocated for use by US Law professor Akhil Reed Amar in his article "Choosing Representatives by Lottery Voting," 93(7) Yale Law Review (June 1984) 1283-1308 [1].-1...

A related system was hypothesised by Isaac Asimov in his short story "Franchise" (1955: reprinted in Earth is Room Enough, Doubleday, 1957), where a single voter is chosen to decide each election. However, in Asimov's thought-experiment, the "elector" is not randomly selected, but chosen by computer to be as representative as possible of the populace at large. Asimov intended this story as a parody of opinion polling. Isaac Asimov, Ph. ...

There is an element of randomness (other than tie-breaking) in some existing electoral systems, in two ways:

First, it is often observed that candidates who are placed in a high position on the ballot-paper will receive extra votes as a result, from voters who are apathetic (especially in elections with compulsory voting) or who have a strong preference for a party but are indifferent among individual candidates representing that party (when there are two or more). For this reason, many societies have abandoned traditional alphabetical listing of candidates on the ballot in favour of either ranking by the parties (eg, the Australian Senate), placement by lot, or rotation (eg, Hare-Clark STV-PR system used in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. When candidates are ordered by lot on the ballot, the advantage of donkey votes can be decisive in a close race. Compulsory voting is a practice that requires citizens to vote in elections or to attend a polling place to get their name crossed off the electoral roll. ... Australian Senate chamber Entrance to the Senate The Senate is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia. ... The Single Transferable Vote, or STV, is a preference voting system designed to minimise wasted votes in multi-candidate elections while ensuring that votes are explicitly for candidates rather than party lists. ... Emblems: Flora - Tasmanian Blue Gum; Mineral - Crocoite Motto: Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Slogan or Nickname: The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Const. ... Emblems: The floral emblem of the ACT is the Royal Bluebell and the faunal emblem is the Gang-gang cockatoo Motto: For the Queen, the Law and the People Slogan or Nickname: (none) Other Australian states and territories Capital Canberra Government Const. ...

Secondly, in some Single Transferable Vote (STV) systems of proportional representation, an elected candidate's surplus of votes over and above the quota is transferred by selecting the required number of ballot papers at random. Thus, if the quota is 1,000 votes, a candidate who polls 1,200 first preference votes has a surplus of 200 votes that s/he does not need. In some STV systems (Ireland since 1922, and Australia from 1918 to 1984, electoral officials select 200 ballot-papers randomly from the 1,200. However, this has been criticised since it is not replicable if a recount is required. As a result, Australia has adopted a variant of fractional transfer, a.k.a the "Gregory method", by which all 1,200 ballot-papers are transferred but are marked down in value to 0.1667 (one-sixth) of a vote each. This means that 1,000 votes "stay with" the elected candidate, while the value of the 1,200 ballot-papers transferred equals only 200 votes. This STV ballot for the Australian Senate illustrates group voting tickets. ... STV is the brand used by both ITV contractors in Northern and Central Scotland, formerly known as Grampian TV and Scottish TV respectively. ... Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation, or PR), is an electoral system delivering a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates (grouped by a certain measure) obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive (usually in legislative assemblies). ... Surplus means the quantity left over, after conducting an activity; the quantity which has not been used up, and can refer to: budget surplus, the opposite of a budget deficit economic surplus Surplus product or surplus value in Marxian economics physical surplus in the economic theory of Piero Sraffa Operating... A quota is a prescribed number or share of something. ...