Example II
Imagine another election in which there are four candidates: Andrea, Brad, Carter and Delilah. There are 120 voters and they vote as follows (fourth preferences are omitted):
| # | 34 voters | 17 voters | 22 voters | 10 voters | 37 voters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Andrea | Brad | Carter | Carter | Delilah | |||
| 2nd | Brad | Carter | Brad | Delilah | Carter | |||
| 3rd | Carter | Andrea | Andrea | Brad | Brad |
The count would proceed as follows:
| Andrea | Brad | Carter | Delilah | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 34 | 17 | 32 | 37 |
| Round 2 | 73 | 47 |
- Round 1: First preferences are tallied and no candidate has a majority (in this election an absolute majority would be 61).
- Round 2: Andrea and Delilah have the most votes so they proceed to a second round while Brad and Carter are excluded. The votes of Brad and Carter supporters are now distributed among the two survivors. To do this the ballot papers of Brad and Carter supporters are examined to see which of the two remaining candidates each voter has ranked higher. The preferences expressed on the ballot papers of Brad and Carter supporters were as follows:
| # | 17 voters | 22 voters | 10 voters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Brad | Carter | Carter |
| 2nd | Carter | Brad | Delilah |
| 3rd | Andrea | Andrea | Brad |
| 4th | Delilah | Delilah | Andrea |
- On the basis of these ballot papers 39 votes are transferred to Andrea and 10 to Delilah.
- Winner: Once Brad and Carter's votes have been transferred Andrea has a majority of votes and so is the winner.
Read more about this topic: Contingent Vote, Examples