# 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.