Mixed single vote

The mixed single vote (MSV) or positive vote transfer system (PVT) is a mixed-member electoral system, where voters cast a single vote in an election, which used both for electing a local candidate and as a vote for a party affiliated with that candidate according to the rules of the electoral system. Unlike the more widespread mixed proportional and mixed majoritarian systems (such as parallel voting) where voters cast two votes, split-ticket voting is either not possible or not allowed in MSV. Voters usually cast their single vote for a local candidate in a single-member district (SMD) and then all the wasted votes from this lower tier are added to distribute seats between upper tier candidates, typically national party lists. How proportional the outcome is depends on many factors including the of vote transfer rules, such which votes are recounted as party list votes, and other parameters (e.g. the number of list seats) used in the system. The MSV system originates from Germany and is currently used in Hungary for local elections in larger municipalities. It was used for the Italian Senate from 1993 to 2005. Mixed single vote systems may use vote linkage compensation, meaning not all, but only "wasted" votes get transferred as list votes to the other tier. Some uncommon, supermixed systems use of MSV may add or subtract the discounted list results to establish a vote linkage based element of compensation into system that would otherwise be categorised as parallel voting. (This article focuses primarily on pure implementations of MSV.) They may also use seat linkage compensation, which means almost all votes (except for votes independent candidates and for candidates affiliated with parties below a threshold) are transferred to the proportional tier but used in a top-up process, like the additional member system (AMS). This was the first type of mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, used in Germany. The third type of mixed single vote system is the single vote equivalent of parallel voting, which uses the same vote on both the majoritarian and proportional tiers.