The Wright system is a refinement of rules associated with proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) electoral system. It is named after Jack Wright, former President of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia)
The aim of the system is to provide an alternative to various methods of segmentation and distribution of preferences associated with the exclusion of a candidate from the count.
The Wright System fulfills the two principles identified by Brian Meek:
- Principle 1. If a candidate is excluded from the count, all ballots are treated as if that candidate had never stood.
- Principle 2. If a candidate has achieved the quota, they retain a fixed proportion of the value of every vote received, and transfers the remainder to the next non-excluded continuing candidate, the value of the retained total equalling the quota.
The system uses the optional Droop Quota (the integer value of the total number of votes divided by one more than the number of vacant positions plus one) and the Gregory method of weighted surplus transfer value of the vote in calculating a candidate's surplus transfer value which is then multiplied by the value of each vote received by the candidates whose votes are to be redistributed, as is the case in the Western Australian upper-house elections.
Unlike the Western Australian upper-house electoral system, the Wright System uses a reiterative counting process that differs from the Meek's method as an alternative to the method of segmentation and distribution of excluded candidates' votes.
On every exclusion of a candidate from the count the counting of the ballot is reset and all valid votes are redistributed to candidates remaining in the count initially at full value.
In each iteration of the count, votes are first distributed according to the voter's first available preference, with each vote assigned a value of one and the total number of votes tabulated for each candidate and the quota calculated on the value of the total number of valid votes using the Droop quota method.
Any candidate that has a total value equal or greater than the quota is provisionally declared elected and their surplus value distributed according to the voter's nominated subsequent preference. If the number of vacancies are filled on the first distribution the results of the election are declared with all provisionally declared candidates being declared the winner of the election.
If the number of candidates provisionally declared elected is less than the number of vacancies and all candidates' surplus votes have been distributed then the candidate with the lowest value of votes is excluded from the count. The ballot is reset and the process of redistribution restarted with ballot papers being redistributed again according to the voters next available preference allocated to any continuing candidate. This process repeats itself until all vacancies are filled in a single count without the need for any further exclusions.
The Wright System takes into account optional preferential voting in that any votes that do not express a valid preference for a continuing candidate are set aside without-value and the quota is recalculated on each iteration of the count following the distribution of the first available preference. Votes that exhaust as a result of a candidate's surplus transfer are set aside with the value associated with the transfer in which they exhausted.
The main advantage of the Wright System is that it limits the distortion and bias in the vote that arises from the adopted methods of segmentation and distribution of preferences of excluded candidates. Each vote has proportionally equal weight and is treated in the same manner as every other vote.
Under the current system used in the Australian Senate a voter whose first preference is for a minor candidate and their subsequent second preference for a major candidate that has been declared elected earlier in the count is denied the opportunity to have their second preference vote allocated to the candidate of their choice. With the reiterative counting system the voter's second preference forms part of the voter's alternative chosen candidate's surplus and is redistributed according to the voters nominated preference allocation.
Read more about Wright System: Definitions, Process of Calculation of The Results of The Election
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