Note: Any buttons or tables in this Info Box are disabled, and are displayed here for referance only.

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The primary difference between "Ranked Choice" voting and the standard "One voter/One vote" systems, is that Ranked Choice allows you to vote for more than one candidate at a time in terms of 1st Choice, 2nd Choice, 3rd Choice, etc.

Ranked Choice Voting is not new; first dating BC, and gained popularity in the 1800's AD. Here is a short list of the many different versions:
- Plurality (First Past the Post)
- Run-Off
- Instant Run-Off
- Condorcet
- Borda Count
- Single Transferable Voting (STV)
- Single Transferable Voting (STV) w/ Borda elimination
- Meek Style STV
- Meek Style STV w/ Borda elimination
- Pair Wise
- Approval Voting
- and many more

And all of these have different methods as how to count the votes & select a winner. Many of these were built on top of a previous one, so they are similar. And a few add different features, such as, electing the top two candidates, and more.

"Looks too Confusing & Complicated!" ~ is the most common argument against RCV.

We agree: trying to learn each one of these systems and then selecting the best one to use is a daunting task...

So we set out to identify the most accurate & simplest one. In the process of learning the different versions we realized that the majority and simplest of the methods were based on first finding the weakest candidates, and then eliminating them from the election one by one until only the winner was left standing.

As the testing of the versions became more complicated, we decided to build a tool to test the different versions for accuracy and speed. Ultimately the tool became its own process using techniques from most of the existing RCV versions.

Our tool is quite simple. it's based on eliminating the weakest candidate and then adjusting the remaining choices, one candidate at a time. So if we have 6 candidates running, we'll have 5 elimination rounds. We demonstrate this step by step by clicking on Step 1 & Step 2 buttons,

This might appear slow, but is intentional, pausing between steps so as to see what takes place, In a real election the process can count a 100k plus ballots in seconds.

Again, the 1st Step; finds the weakest candidate & removes all their votes from the "Active Vote" display. The 2nd Step; shifts any remaining choices up into a higher preferance level, which increases the value of that vote, giving it higher ranking.

For example, if my 1st choice loses, then my 2nd choice becomes my 1st choice, & my 3rd choice becomes my 2nd, etc.

There is no calculating percentages or threasholds reaching 50%'s, or 35%'s etc, or adding "weighting" of the counts based on choice, etc.. .

Its very simple. it uses only addition, subtraction and the shifting of a pointer to the data in an array. and is lightning fast !!! This might be hard to grasp, but we have built the RCV Visual Demo, that makes it super easy to see it in action and understand how it works...

This process is introduced on The Visual Tabulation page here, Rcv Tools ~ Visual Tabulation Demo

RCV ~ also eliminates the "Spoiler Effect" associated with Two Party Elections and makes efforts to Gerrymander very weak.
RCV ~ introduces new faces & new candidates w/o Party Alignment & Allegiance.
RCV ~ Gives us more Options & Choices, more information on issues & referance for future support.

Some describe RCV as a Consensus-Based voting system rather than a majoritarian one.

Note: Any buttons or tables in this Info Box are disabled, and are displayed here for referance only.

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This site covers a lot of information about the RCV systems and methods which are in use today as well as in the past.

We feel that RCV offers much opportunity for promoting new Candidates, new Ideas and new means of advocacy in the efforts of finding and electing the best we have to offer.

Again, Ranked Choice Voting is not new, re-emerging in the 1800s, and there are many different versions,

& Again, Here is a short list
- Plurality (First Past the Post)
- Run-Off
- Instant Run-Off
- Condorcet
- Borda Count
- Single Transferable Voting (STV)
- Single Transferable Voting (STV) w/ Borda elimination
- Meek Style STV
- Meek Style STV w/ Borda elimination
- Pair Wise
- Approval Voting
- and many more

And All of these have different equations & methods of how to count the votes & select a winner. Many of these were built on top of a previous one, so they are similar.

We have provided a List of referances about these methods at the botton, of the page.

A Quick View from wikipedia, of some of the better Articles on RCV see:

.../wiki/Ranked_voting & .../wiki/Comparison_of_electoral_systems

And a summary of the method that we felt is the simplest to implement is,
.../wiki/Single_transferable_vote

To help us analyze the different versions we built a demo that 1st builds a Radomly generated sample election based on # of choices, # of Candidates & # of Voters, which then allowed us to test & display the results of a few different methods as the votes were counted in a few selected versions. In study of an STV version, we quickly realized a possibe flaw in its basic design. here is an actual snap shot image from our demo that captured this flaw.

as you can see ... the the first row labeled "totals 1" shows the total 1st Choice votes for each candidate, ... The 2nd row labeled "totals 1&2" shows the combined totals of 1st Choice & 2nd Choice votes for each candidate, etc.

The values in the Candidate "A" column, is 6,18,27 & 32. and in this case, while the 6 value is the lowest in the ist row, the 27 & 32 values are the highest in the whole table.

This is a perfect example of how using the weakest candidate in the of 1st choice votes, is not the best solution. In this example, eliminating the A Candidate because of the low 6 count would cheat Candidate A out of the win, while it is clear that A is by far the strongest Candidate overall.

without getting too deep in the science of adding weight (also called ranking) to the different values of choice levels. We feel that we have found a very fast & secure solution that provides for the goals of all the different RCV versions, which is also open source, free to use and copy, and improve if possible.

We have provided a working demo of the mentioned solution, here, Rcv Tools ~ Visual Tabulation Demo

To See more about what RCV is, See the short selected videos, and continue to the following RCV Quick View panel.

Note: Any buttons or tables in this Info Box are disabled, and are displayed here for referance only.

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This Project is based on two primary premises.

(A) The first is acknowledging that anything that uses the Internet to store voter data or calculating equations in any way, can & likely will get hacked (or compromised) at some point, especially when it comes to voting. And the best way to remove that problem is by not engaging the internet for transmitting voting data or processing the data in any way.

(B) The Second, is acknowledging that there can always be an inside breach or tampering of the ballots. We think we may be able to solve that problem. This is a WORK IN PROGRESS at this stage, but we are working on it,

We believe we can build a secure system that can't be broken or tampered with. without telling on itself

Let's say the polling location creates an encrypted mirror of the actual ballot database every 15 min, and we allow the staff and anyone who has voted to take & keep a copy.

This may seem difficult, but it's really not, let's say you have 10 candidates & 5 Ranked choices per candidate, and 50,000 voters at that location, that's only 50 x 50,000, or a 2.5 MB picture!, and that is a small file, in today's world.

And it's printable, can be scanned and used to mirror the actual votes up to that time.

And in this way, even if someone at the voting location tampers with the database, or the results are challenged after the election, and call for a time con-consuming recount.

We've got potentially 50,000 mirrors available to challege a breach or a recount call and build a new matching database to be compared to the official one on location, from the mirrors in minutes, and no-one can claim that ALL the 50,000 voters and staffers are lying!

Now, here's another important point,

Typically a printed copy of a voter's ballot is not provided to voters for safety reasons. because, let's say someone has threatened or paid a voter to vote a certain way. If a copy of their ballot is not provided, then there is no way to prove that they voted like they were directed to, so that possible threat goes away.

So we can't provide the voter with a copy of their vote, but we can allow the voter to check the Integrity & Accuracy of their mirror, at anytime.

anyway, we are looking at all aspects of these security problems and are trying to get a working demo on this finalized, when & if we do, we will present it here to be tested, challenged, criticized & all.

And reguardless of this hopeful 2nd Premise, Our Finished Demo works perfectly as it is & It very well demonstates how All RCV Elections can & should be counted.