Editing Single non-transferable vote (section)

==Potential for tactical voting==
The potential for [[tactical voting]] in a single non-transferable vote system is large. Casting only one vote, a rational voter wanting to maximize the number of seats captured by his party should vote for a candidate of the party that has a chance of winning, but one that will not win by too great a margin and thus take votes away from party colleagues. This creates opportunities for tactical nominations, with parties nominating candidates similar to their opponents' candidates in order to split the vote. Like all multiple-winner selections, parties find it advantageous to run a range of candidates in SNTV elections.

SNTV has been measured through the lens of such concepts as ''decision-theoretic analysis''. Professor [[Gary W. Cox]], an expert on SNTV, has studied this system's use in Japan.<ref name=Cox1994>{{cite journal |last1=Cox |first1=Gary W. |title=Strategic Voting Equilibria Under the Single Nontransferable Vote |journal=The American Political Science Review |date=1994 |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=608–621 |id={{Gale|A16076443}} |doi=10.2307/2944798 |jstor=2944798 |s2cid=143660732 }}</ref> Cox has an explanation of real-world data finding the, "two systems [plurality and semi-proportional] are alike in their strategic voting equilibria."<ref name=Cox1994/> His research found that voters use the information offered in campaigns (polls, reporting, fundraising totals, endorsements, etc.), to rationally decide who the most viable candidates are and then vote for them.

SNTV can result in complicated intra-party dynamics because in a SNTV system, a candidate runs against candidates from their own party as well as against candidates from the other party. SNTV elections are not zero-sum contests. Just because one particular candidate is elected does not mean that another specific candidate will not be. They both can be elected.

Because running on issues may lead to a situation in which a candidate becomes too popular and therefore draws votes away from other allied candidates, SNTV may encourage legislators to join factions that consist of patron-client relationships in which a powerful legislator can apportion votes to his or her supporters.

In addition, parties will do best if their supporters evenly distribute their votes among the party's candidates. Historically, in [[Taiwan]], the [[Kuomintang]] did this by sending members a letter telling them which candidate to vote for. With the [[Democratic Progressive Party]], vote sharing is done informally, as members of a family or small group will coordinate their votes. The [[New Party (Republic of China)|New Party]] had a surprisingly effective system by asking party supporters to vote for the candidate whose identification number corresponded to their birthdate. This led to a system of [[vote allocation]] which had been adopted by all parties for the [[2004 Republic of China legislative election|2004 ROC legislative elections]].