What Is the Difference Between Elected and Nominated?

When it comes to elections and voting, there’s a lot of vocabulary at play. Below, we’re going to discuss what it means for someone to be nominated versus elected–in short,  ‘nominated’ refers to a person chosen for a position, and ‘elected’ means they obtain a position by receiving the most votes.

We’ll also explain how this process relates to government and board nominations, as well as how online voting systems such as those offered by ElectionBuddy can help make the voting process smoother and more transparent.

What Does It Mean to Be Nominated?

Being nominated means that a person has become a candidate or nominee for a role. That role could be anything from mayor to president, or, in the corporate world, from vice president to chairman of the board. 

Being nominated may or may not have been that person's choice. The person may have chosen to step forward and present themselves as a candidate for an office or role by announcing their intention to run for the office. Alternatively, a candidate may have been nominated by their peers or superiors. In the latter scenario, the candidate has the option to decline a nomination for a board position.

Furthermore, in the world of politics, a nominee may have to go through several rounds of voting against other nominees in order to be their political party's candidate. These candidacy processes are known as primary elections.

What Does It Mean to Be Elected?

Being elected means that a candidate has won an election and is now the person that will fill the role that has been voted on. There are many ways in which someone can become elected to an office or a corporate board position. 

Winner-Take-All

The candidate who receives the most votes wins the election. While this makes sense at face value, it can become complicated in situations where there are more than two candidates. This may lead to a scenario where one candidate gets the most votes, but does not receive over 50% of all votes. Thanks to its simplicity, however, this system is one of the most popular.

Two-Round System or Runoff Elections

In situations described above where a single candidate fails to obtain more than 50% of the vote total, the two-round system forces the top two candidates into a second round of voting whereby the winner is the candidate that receives more than 50% of the vote. This is the voting system used in a majority of countries' government elections. 

Ranked Choice Voting

This system removes the need for a second round of voting by allowing the voter to rank their candidate in order of preference. If their first-choice candidate does not receive a majority of votes, their vote goes to their next choice, and so on. Using this system allows a winner to be identified immediately without the need for a second round of voting.

Corporate Board Elections

The above scenarios only cover situations where a single winner is chosen. However, in the world of corporate board elections, there may be multiple candidates vying for multiple vacancies. This is known as a multi-winner election in which the candidates who receive the most votes are elected for several different open seats. 

Summary

Using the latest advancements in security technology and software, online election and voting companies like ElectionBuddy are helping organizations big and small conduct elections seamlessly.

Various plans are available from free self-administered elections to expert-level managed elections during which the process is overseen by election experts to ensure maximum convenience and transparency. No matter what your elections needs are, ElectionBuddy has you covered!