Having turned Florida Republican in 1992 by voting for George Bush by a margin of two to one, the Cuban-Americans roughly split their vote between the parties in 1996.

ECONOMIST: All about a boy

Since the double ballot encourages people to split their vote, backing a small party for the Knesset and the Labour or Likud candidate for prime minister, both big parties lost votes to smaller ones in the 1996 election, and are likely to lose even more next time.

ECONOMIST: Israel

Republicans are relying on voters to split their ballots and vote for Messrs.

WSJ: Candidates Battle Down to the Wire in Greater New York

Because of the split inside the GOP their vote is very important to both sides, but especially I think to the President.

NPR: Senate to Debate Bush's Guest Worker Proposal

Some of the difficulties have been due to the sheer number of these new parties, which split the vote of their sympathizers.

CNN: Why Tunisia's leaders must resist urge for power grab

And their vote is split between nearly a dozen different parties.

ECONOMIST: Pro-democracy parties are failing at their own game

Much as Democrats overreached in pushing their original legislation, however, I suspect they are over-reading the likely impact of the summit and their ultimate vote strength for the split-the-Democratic difference plan the president unveiled on Monday.

FORBES

Although Maine and Nebraska never actually split their electoral votes until Nebraska in 2008, one could readily imagine how this kind of split electoral vote could make a big difference in contested battleground states.

FORBES: Campaign 2016 Has Already Begun In A State Legislature Near You

To avoid the risk that it might wriggle free through a split vote from its shareholders, they signalled support for their preferred winner.

ECONOMIST: The next battle

Conservative MPs will fret that a split of the vote on the Right could not just cost them their seats, but allow Labour to sneak through the middle and win the next election.

BBC: Elections 2013: What it means leader by leader