OTHER VOTING SYSTEMS.

Americans tend to assume that our first-past-the-post voting system is simply the way democracy is done. Some other countries, however, have developed more nuanced methods of deciding the outcome of their elections.

In the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the Captains Regent are empowered to rule by decree until a winner is decided by a torta-eating contest.

In Malawi, the winning candidate is the one who accumulates the largest number of Facebook friends.

In New Zealand, a certain number of seats in parliament are set aside for representatives of the people who like their French fries with mayonnaise rather than ketchup.

In North Korea, good feeling and decent order prevail, and each candidate is elected by a supermajority of 110%.

In France, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the top three candidates are subjected to an examination on deconstructionist literary theory, with the office going to the one who most successfully deconstructs the examination.

In Russia, the election is traditionally awarded to the candidate who is not lying in a bloody heap on the sidewalk.

In Canada, elections are no longer held; instead, candidates are chosen by the rock-paper-scissors method.