Wählen mit Kübeln und Kaskaden: Wie sich das Personenstimmen- paradox bei Wahlen in Bremen, Hamburg und Niedersachsen auf einfache Weise vermeiden lässt

Abstract

In state elections in Bremen and Hamburg and local elections in Lower Saxony, voters have the opportunity to vote directly for one or more candidates or to confirm the order of the lists proposed by the parties . The ratio of votes cast for the candidates and the list deter- mines how many seats are filled according to the order of the list and how many seats are filled according to the order of the votes cast for the candidates . It may be the case that an additional vote for a candidate leads to him not receiving a seat at all . This phenomenon, which is reminiscent of the negative weight of votes in Bundestag elections, is a nuisance from the point of view of democratic theory because it violates the fundamental require- ment that a vote for a candidate always leads to an increase in his chances of getting elected . Probst and Schröder speak of the personal vote paradox or external-utilization paradox . The aim of this article is to present three simple procedures that avoid the personal vote paradox without fundamentally changing the logic of the current electoral system . The effects of the proposed procedures are illustrated using the election results of the Bremen state election in 2023 . [