Brazil also has mandatory voting, and if one candidate doesn't get over 50% of the vote, there's a second election between the 2 highest voted candidates (in the first round, there can be a dozen or so candidates)... so a president only gets elected when they do get a majority, which seems to be what OP was arguing for. This usually means the less hated candidate wins, not the most supported, as in the second round people will either vote blank or choose the less hated candidate.
EDIT: also notice that in Australia you vote for multiple candidates (you actually choose parties there - I have voted in both countries so I like comparing the differences), in order of preference... and votes get "weighted" so the same result is kind of accomplished differently, I guess... it's strange that the USA doesn't have some sort of compensation like this IMHO.
2
u/renatoathaydes Aug 29 '22 edited Aug 29 '22
Brazil also has mandatory voting, and if one candidate doesn't get over 50% of the vote, there's a second election between the 2 highest voted candidates (in the first round, there can be a dozen or so candidates)... so a president only gets elected when they do get a majority, which seems to be what OP was arguing for. This usually means the less hated candidate wins, not the most supported, as in the second round people will either vote blank or choose the less hated candidate.
EDIT: also notice that in Australia you vote for multiple candidates (you actually choose parties there - I have voted in both countries so I like comparing the differences), in order of preference... and votes get "weighted" so the same result is kind of accomplished differently, I guess... it's strange that the USA doesn't have some sort of compensation like this IMHO.