Editing Voting (section)

{{short description|Method to make collective decisions}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|Vote|Voter}}
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{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=300
| image1 = Papeletareferendum2006.jpg
| image2 = Election presidentielle 2007 Lausanne MG 2761.jpg
| image3 = Inked finger.jpg
| image4 = Votingwomen.jpg
| image5 = Voting United States.jpg
| image6 = Brazilian DRE voting machine for 2022 elections.jpg
| footer = Clockwise from top left: ballot for [[2006 Panama Canal expansion referendum|a referendum in Panama]], ballot box for [[2007 French presidential election|a French election]], women voting in [[Bangladesh]], an electronic [[voting machine]] in Brazil, a sign at a United States voting location, [[election ink]]ing on a man's finger in [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]]
}}{{Voting}}{{Electoral systems sidebar|expanded=Social and collective choice}}

'''Voting''' is the process of choosing [[official]]s or [[Policy|policies]] by casting a [[ballot]], a document used by people to formally express their preferences. [[Republic]]s and [[Representative democracy|representative democracies]] are governments where the population chooses representatives by voting. 

The procedure for identifying the winners based on votes varies depending on both the country and the political office. [[Political science|Political scientists]] call these procedures [[electoral system]]s, while [[Mathematics|mathematicians]] and [[economist]]s call them [[Social choice function|social choice rules]]. The study of these rules and what makes them good or bad is the subject of a branch of [[welfare economics]] known as [[social choice theory]].

In smaller organizations, voting can occur in many different ways: formally via ballot to elect others for example within a workplace, to elect members of political associations, or to choose roles for others; or informally with a spoken agreement or a gesture like a raised hand. In larger organizations, like [[Country|countries]], voting is generally confined to periodic [[election]]s.