cumulative voting

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Cumulative voting refers to any voting structure where individuals can pool their votes together for certain candidates. For example, if a corporate executive has a single vote for each of seven director seats being voted for, cumulative voting would allow the executive to use all seven votes in a single director election. This can allow minority voting classes to achieve some election success by pooling all of their votes into a single election or a couple elections. Many corporations use cumulative voting structures within the corporation such as voting for directors. Some local governments use cumulative voting structures to elect council and board members such as education board members. Some scholars and politicians argue that cumulative voting should be used more throughout the United States as a way to increase minority representation. 

[Last updated in January of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]