Sincere voting
# Sincere voting

Part of the Politics series :

Voting :

Balloting

Ballots

Absentee ballot

Provisional ballot

Sample ballot

Candidates and Ballot measures

Write-in candidate

Electorate

Slate

Ticket

Collection

Ballot box

Compulsory voting

Early voting

Electronic voting

Open ballot

Polling place

Postal voting

Precinct

Vote center

Voting booth

Counting

Popular vote

Tally

Voting machine :

Electoral systems

Plurality and majoritarian systems

First-past-the-post voting

Two-round system

Instant-runoff voting

Plurality-at-large voting

General ticket

Usual judgment

Proportional and semi-proportional systems

Single non-transferable vote

Cumulative voting

Binomial system

Party-list

Single transferable voting

Spare vote

Mixed-member systems

Mixed-member proportional

Additional member system

Mixed single vote (positive vote transfer)

Scorporo (negative vote transfer)

Mixed ballot transferable vote

Alternative Vote Plus

Dual-member proportional

Rural–urban proportional

Majority bonus system

Parallel voting (Mixed member majoritarian) :

Voting strategies

Issue voting

Fusion voting

Split-ticket voting

Straight-ticket voting

Tactical voting

Vote pairing

Protest votes

Abstention

Donkey vote

Election boycott

None of the above

Refused ballot

Spoilt vote :

Voting patterns and effects

Coattail effect

Likely voter

Paradox of voting

Passive electioneering

Vote splitting

Political apathy

Voter fatigue

Voter turnout

Protest votes :

Electoral fraud

Ballot harvesting

Ballot stuffing

Felony disenfranchisement

Vote buying

Voter suppression

Voter caging

Prevention

Election ink

Secret ballot

Voter registration :

Politics portal :

vte :

Sincere voting is casting a vote for an outcome that the voter prefers above all others. In an election, sincere voting is formally choosing the voter's most preferred candidate. It might initially seem that all voting would be sincere, since voting is a method for individuals to contribute to a group decision by expressing an opinion. However, the design of many voting systems prevents full expression of voter opinion. As a result, voters may attempt to prevent undesired outcomes rather than support positive outcomes. By definition, insincere voting is when a voter supports an undesired outcome to prevent an even less desired outcome.

## Elections with several candidates

Elections allowing only one vote among more than two candidates often require a decision between voting sincerely or insincerely. If the voter's most preferred candidate is unlikely to win, the voter often chooses between the two leading candidates by the lesser of two evils principle. However, vote pairing is another option that can allow two insincere voters to vote sincerely without changing the runoff outcome between the two leading candidates. For example, in the United States Presidential Election, if a Democrat and Republican in the same voting district both agree to vote for third party candidates, they will achieve the same effect in the Democrat/Republican runoff and will also gain the opportunity to vote sincerely for third party candidates.

## Voting systems

Voting behavior in complex voting systems tends to develop similarly high levels of strategic complexity.

