Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people

Abraham Lincoln

In any democracy, people exercise their power to choose the leaders of their choice through a fair and regular elections. Voting in/out the representatives is crucial for democratic development (you can study more on this subject through this MOOC by Stanford University that I completed).

Despite having this power, we often get disappointed when a candidate of not our choice win the election and feel that our vote was wasted. This will result in lower voter turnouts as low as zero is some villages: a special case in India. Of course, I am not ruling out the other reasons of people not voting but only highlighting the motivation levels of the electoral roll. I have many of my friends boycotting the elections just for a simple reason of not willing to travel or expect the election commission to conduct online voting or simply put e-voting, a solution less used in digital age in comparison to influencing the ballot via social media.

This calls for a discussion about electoral reforms that improves citizen participation and tested alternative voting systems without losing the core idea of conducting the fair and free elections. One such method that we all know is None Of The Above, NOTA. During my public policy fellowship with Foundation for Community Consensus (FCC), I learned about another voting system called D21 – Janeček method. D21 can be assumed as an acronym for Democracy 21. I assume that the number 21 refers to the two positive votes and one negative vote which the method proposes.

The literature on various alternative voting methods highlights the importance of negative vote and the dynamics it can bring in participatory democracy. Look at the video below for a detailed illustration of the new voting method:

During the fellowship, we did try this voting system in a participatory budgeting simulation of a fictious modern city Empaville. We could see how the preferences will change with that one negative vote.

While the method is not that popular this side of the world, there is potential for it to becoming the standard voting method in future. As on date, I am unaware of its use in any major elections but is employed in few municipalities and other local governments.

Refer Wiki and Website to learn more about the method.