Editing Referendum (section)

== Design and procedure ==

=== {{anchor|Mutiplechoice}}<!--[[Preferendum]] and [[Multiple-choice referendum]] redirect here-->Multiple-choice referendums ===
{{category see also|Multiple-choice referendums}}
A referendum usually offers the electorate a straight choice between accepting or rejecting a proposal. However some referendums give voters multiple choices, and some use transferable voting. This has also been called a [[wiktionary:Preferendum|'''preferendum''']] when the choices given allow the voters to weight their support for a policy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reybrouck |first=David Van |date=2023-03-16 |title=Democracy's Missing Link: The "preferendum" – a method for citizens to rate and rank policy ideas – would turn citizen concerns into government action. |url=https://www.noemamag.com/democracys-missing-link |journal=[[Noema]] |language=en-US |access-date=2023-11-06 |archive-date=2023-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106011414/https://www.noemamag.com/democracys-missing-link/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[Switzerland]], for example, multiple choice referendums are common. Two multiple choice referendums were held in [[Sweden]], in 1957 and in 1980, in which voters were offered three options. In 1977, a referendum held in [[Australia]] to determine a new [[Advance Australia Fair|national anthem]] was held, in which voters had four choices. In 1992, New Zealand held a five-option referendum on their electoral system. In 1982, Guam had a referendum that used six options, with an additional blank option for those wishing to (campaign and) vote for their own seventh option.

A multiple choice referendum poses the question of how the result is to be determined. They may be set up so that if no single option receives the support of an absolute [[majority]] (more than half) of the votes, resort can be made to the two-round system or [[instant-runoff voting]], which is also called IRV and PV.

In 2018 the Irish [[Citizens' Assembly (Ireland)|Citizens' Assembly]] considered the conduct of future [[referendums in Ireland]], with 76 of the members in favour of allowing more than two options, and 52% favouring preferential voting in such cases.<ref name="citizensassembly_referenda">{{cite web|url=https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/Manner-in-which-referenda-are-held/Manner-in-which-referenda-are-held.html|title=Manner in which referenda are held|publisher=Citizens' Assembly|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=23 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323031432/https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/Manner-in-which-referenda-are-held/Manner-in-which-referenda-are-held.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Other people regard a non-majoritarian methodology like the [[Modified Borda Count]] (MBC) as more inclusive and more accurate.

Swiss referendums offer a separate vote on each of the multiple options as well as an additional decision about which of the multiple options should be preferred. In the Swedish case, in both referendums the 'winning' option was chosen by the [[First Past the Post electoral system|Single Member Plurality]] ("first past the post") system. In other words, the winning option was deemed to be that supported by a [[plurality (voting)|plurality]], rather than an absolute majority, of voters. In the 1977 Australian referendum, the winner was chosen by the system of preferential [[instant-runoff voting]] (IRV). Polls in Newfoundland (1949) and Guam (1982), for example, were counted under a form of the [[two-round system]], and an unusual form of TRS was used in the 1992 New Zealand poll.

Although [[California]] has not held multiple-choice referendums in the Swiss or Swedish sense (in which only one of several counter-propositions can be victorious, and the losing proposals are wholly null and void), it does have so many yes-or-no referendums at each election day that conflicts arise. The State's constitution provides a method for resolving conflicts when two or more inconsistent propositions are passed on the same day. This is a de facto form of [[approval voting]]—i.e. the proposition with the most "yes" votes prevails over the others to the extent of any conflict.

Other voting systems that could be used in multiple-choice referendum are [[Condorcet method]] and [[quadratic voting]] (including [[Quadratic voting#Quadratic funding|quadratic funding]]).

===Electronic referendum===
{{Excerpt|Electronic referendum|only=paragraph}}