ABSTRACT
Voting and elections are absolute prerequisites for democracy, the very definition of which is “rule by the people.” Direct democracy, which refers to the practice of having the people vote directly on all matters of importance, is now extremely rare in the world. Only a handful of jurisdictions-and none at the national level-are still small and uncomplicated enough to allow for direct democracy. Representative democracy, by far the predominant form of democracy today, involves the election of individuals to public offices in which they are empowered to exercise authority on behalf of the people.
