Preferential voting

Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems:

• Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as contingency votes (any system other than plurality or anti-plurality)
• Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of preference (American literature)
  • Instant-runoff voting and single transferable vote, referred to as "preferential voting" in Australia by way of conflation
  • Bucklin voting, similarly conflated during the Progressive Era
  • Optional preferential voting
• Open list representation, a form of party-list proportional representation where "preference votes" are used to express preference for individual candidates instead of party lists.

How it works

Let's say that Banana, Orange, and Apple were fighting. You'd count all the 1st votes, which gives you your initial tally. The formula for the goal is: Number of Votes over 2 + 1. To see who would win, at every stage, ask yourself: Has somebody already reached the goal? After that, you knock out the lowest scorer and transfer the votes. Repeat the process to find the winner.

See also

• Electoral system
• Social choice theory
• Weighted voting
• Rated voting