Rcv Tools Demo

Show How to Use

~ Using Info boxes:

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

We have incorporated a "Info/Tutorial Box" type format into this website, which allows us to quickly guide the visitor thru the site, learning the Tools, Topics, Tables, etc, in a progressive order. This pop-open & close type box allows the viewer to stay on this same page while viewing new info, and then close that box, keeping this page concise & uncluttered.

These Boxes close whenever you click on another Info Box or on the Title area above the opened box.

~ Mobile viewing support:

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

Using & viewing the demo is much easier on tablets & laptops than on our phones. To assist us in phone viewing we support 3 different View modes, the
Standard View, DeskTop View & App View , each opened with the , buttons, and the RcvTools image

which toggles the App View, as well as the individual & buttons positioned above the Tables.

Note: the DeskTop View will give you an overview of the entire page from a distance, as you would see with a tablet or desktop. Tap to return to close up viewing.

~ Open RCV Election Tools~v1.1

Visit our Primary web page here,

Introduction

There is much confusion in how Ranked Choice Elections are counted, we have built the following demo to accurately Tabulate & Count Rcv votes in full, taking no shortcuts, The Demo steps through the counting process making it extremely clear, leaving full understanding & confidence in the election results.

New to Rcv? ~ In Brief:

The Primary difference between "Ranked Choice Voting" and the standard "One voter One vote" systems, is that Ranked Choice allows you to vote on more than one candidate at a time in terms of 1st Choice, 2nd Choice, 3rd Choice, etc.
There are many different versions & methods of Rcv. For more on Rcv, versions, history, sercurity, etc. see our primary web site;
https://RcvTools.com/v1.1/index.html.

Using Info boxes:

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

We have incorporated a "Info/Tutorial" type format into this website, which allows us to quickly guide the visitor thru the site, learning the Tools, Topics, Tables, etc.

This pop-open & close type format allows the viewer to stay on this same page while viewing new content, and then close that content, keeping this page concise & uncluttered.

These Boxes only display disabled buttons, images of Tables etc. and discriptions of how to use them, as example image, here.

Some will also include working links to external referance pages which will open the link in a new page or tab, allowing the viewer to return back to this page by clicking a back button, this orginal tab or simply closing the linked to page.

Try it, test it with this wikipedia link, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_electoral_systems

These Info Boxes close whenever you click on another Info Box or on the "show less" button above the opened box.

Mobile viewing controls:

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

Using & viewing the demo is much easier on tablets & laptops than on our phones.

To assist us in phone viewing we support 3 different View modes,

the Standard View;

the DeskTop View;

the
App View

which is toggled by tapping the Rcv Tools image

As well as the Zoom buttons

positioned above the Tables.

How the ballot counting works.

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

Our Vote counting method is called a Consensus-Based system which eliminates the weakest candidate one by one until only the winner is left standing,

Here is a screenshot from one of the Sample Elections after the Step A button was clicked,

In this case (shown above) the weakest Candidate "E" was marked in yellow, and then after the Step B Button is clicked, the yellow boxes are removed & the lower green boxes will be shifted up in each affected column as shown below,

In Real time action it's hard to see the shifting because the shift is instant. To Assist in seeing the "Shift Up", Lets look at fewer columns say the first 4 in our example, as shown here,

The image on the left shows the columns after Step A has marked the weakest candidate's yellow, and the image on the right shows the columns after the yellow boxes have been removed and the lower green boxes have shifted up.

We have also Added a "Shift Back" button to its related "StepB" button

And, now after boxes have been marked in yellow, the viewer can quickly toggle the display back and forth by clicking the "StepB" button & then the "Shift Back" over and over again until the "Shifting Up" has been Seen & understood.
"Try It";

Once the "Shifting Up" is visualized & understood, We continue with the Step A: & Step B: button clicks until a winner is Identified.

And to help Speed up the Step A: & Step B process We have also Added a "Fast Step" button to its related "StepA" button.

which will combine both Step A: & Step B, in a single click,
"Try It also";

The Sample Election Setup :

The Demo starts with setting up a Sample Election, which takes 3 parameters: # of Choices, # of Voters & # of Candidates: click on anyone of these Blue parameter buttons & a popup menu will show, then select a value. Note: The # of Choices cannot excede the # of Candidates and is self correcting. And the # of Candidates is limited to 300 on this demo for ease of display, however the same process will work for elections of 100k voters or more.

The Primary Controls:

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

The Make Sample button

builds a Random generated sample election, & loads and displays this data per voter in the ACTIVE TABLE,

with summarized totals per candidate in the TOTALS TABLES. The

button reloads the Active sample at any time.

Next, the Demo allows us to step through the Elimination Process one step at a time using the Step buttons,

With each button click, we see the Vote Totals & Choice positions change. Try it, click the Steps one after the other, eliminating the weakest candidates until a winner is chosen.

The more you test it, the more you will see it's accuracy, It's importent to understand how the remaining Choices are Shifted Up after each elimination, the

#Steps Opt 3 which shows the Step B button

with "hints on" will help in seeing the shifting.

Once you see how the shifting works, you may want to speed up the demo, to easier see how the Totals Tables change, by using the

button.

ACTIVE TABLE

tA-

Step thru the choice shifting: tutorial

Note: In RCV, If your 1st choice is eliminated, then your 2nd Choice becomes your 1st choice, & your 3rd Choice becomes your 2nd, etc. this should be clear before we introduce the actual counting process. This shifting of choices is demonstrated here with help from the SHIFT TABLE,

After Loading a Sample election, Click on the "Step 1 button, above, casually observe the changes, and then Click on the "Step 2 button, ~ try it .

This process is based on eliminating the weakest candidate one by one until only one (the winner) is left standing.

as example, if there are 7 candidates, we will have 6 elimination rounds, with two steps each.

Now, in a real election the steps are combined into one, it is intentionally slowed down here by adding steps so we can stop & see the changes.

ACTIVE TOTALS

ACTIVE TOTALS ~ per Candidate

candidate A BCDEFG

totals 1 6 8114786

totals 1&2 12 141512141210

totals 1 to 3 14 202215181913

totals 1 to 4 18 232417212317

totals 1 to 5 18 232421232818

Note: The ACTIVE TOTALS Table, (on the left) shows the Active counts in the elimination process, while they are counted, which we feel is the simplest & fairest process that we have seen.

Note, the examples we are using are from small sized randomly generated elections, from 50 to 300 voters. So seeing ties might be frequent.

Although in a real election of 10k to 100k+ voters or more, seeing a tie will be extremely rare.

ACTIVE VOTE TOTALS

TOTAL VOTES ~ per Candidate

candidate A BCDEFG

1st choice 2 443232

2nd choice 4 210242

3rd choice 1 211232

4th choice 2 211111

5th choice 2 120000

Show event notes

Tap to see notes

Note A: The 3 Tables Above are provided to assist in understanding how the weakest Candidates are identified.
The easiest approach is to simply find the candidate with the fewest 1st Choice votes. This may be easiest, but it's certainly not the most accurate,
Let's say a candidate only had 1 vote in the 1st choice row, but had 20 in the 2nd, etc. and yet was eliminated because of the fewest 1st row votes ? ~ We need a better approach. What if we combined the totals of the 1st & 2nd rows together ?. It would provide better accuracy.

COMBINED TOTALS ~ per Candidate

candidate A BCDEFG

1st choice 2 443232

2nd choice 4 210242

3rd choice 1 211232

4th choice 2 211111

5th choice 2 120000

Tap to see notes

Note B: And then, taking this "Combined Totals" concept a step further, can give us a very, simple, fair & accurate process to identify the weakest candidate

In detail... If we have 5 rows of choices, we have 5 rows of combined totals, and instead of starting with the 1st row, we start at the mean (or center) row.
And then if there is a tie in that row, we break that tie by comparing the 1st row totals. The one with the least votes is the weakest. If those tie, it is a near exact tie & both are eliminated at the same time provided it is before the next to final round.

INITIAL TOTAL VOTES ~ per Candidate

candidate A BCDEFG

1st choice 2 443232

2nd choice 4 210242

3rd choice 1 211232

4th choice 2 211111

5th choice 2 120000

Note: The Initial Tables are provided to help see how the overall totals change after shifting.

INITIAL COMBINED TOTALS ~

candidate A BCDEFG

1st choice 2 443232

2nd choice 4 210242

3rd choice 1 211232

4th choice 2 211111

5th choice 2 120000

Note: The Initial Tables are provided to help see how the overall totals change after shifting.

Active TableHide

Introduction

blah 1 tst

blah 2

Active Table

Add text blah

Sample Setup

testing note

and blah blah

and more
until blah'd out

Active Totals

blah

Vote Totals

blah

Initial Totals

blah

Save & Share

blah

The Save & Share Samples Box:

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

The Make Sample button

builds a Random generated sample election, & loads and displays this data per voter in the ACTIVE TABLE,

with summarized totals per candidate in the TOTALS TABLES. The

button reloads the Active sample at any time.

Next, the Demo allows us to step through the Elimination Process one step at a time using the Step buttons,

#Steps Opt 3 which shows the Step B button

with "hints on" will help in seeing the shifting.

Once you see how the shifting works, you may want to speed up the demo, to easier see how the Totals Tables change, by using the

button.

In Conclusion:

This all may look complicated, but the counting process is actually very simple, there is no complex algorithms, The process uses only Addition, Subtraction & the Shifting of a pointer to the perticular vote of interest at that momment. It should also be understood that the database or record of the votes never changes after the first time each one is cast.

This process is extremely fast & secure, The process can count a 100,000 plus votes (per location) in seconds, this is the cleanest & fairest process we have seen. And it is flexible, If we want an Election To pick the top 3 candiates like electing City council members, that's easy, simply stop the eliminations, 2 steps early, etc. This process is currently the fairest, most accurate & secure way possible, lets use It.

And It's Free & Open Source.

INITIAL VOTE TOTALS

zzzz

INITIAL COMBINED TOTALS

~ In Conclusion: zzz

In Conclusion:

Saving & Sharing Tools:

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

button reloads the Active sample at any time. This module has two sections, The upper one shows data from the Active Sample that is currently loaded in the Demo,
showing the Format, next the Vote Data, and lastly a Sharable Array which can be copied a pasted to any notepad in one step. The Lower Section is labeled Saved Samples,
which shows separate boxes of a saved Sharable Datas Array along with an associated editable box for notes about that sample.

Together these two sections allows us to Save a Sample Election with a simple click of the "Save To Web" button, And also to reload any Saved Election with a click of the "Add To Active" button, with a following "Re-Load Sample" button click, above
If you get too many samples saved, or want to delete one, you can click on any of them to select it, and then click the "Remove Sample" button.

Note: this version of the Save & Share utility only Saves the Sharing data until the browser is closed, unless you save them to the web, via NotePad or Notes, etc. or by using one of the Zip-Link Utilites like, Data-Card, which allows Data Transfer between different devices, without syncing them, which in our opinion, syncing is insecure against virus injection.

Saving & Sharing Tools:

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

After you have experience in using the demo ... The Save & Share module will allow you to save and replay Sample Elections that you may find confusing or of importance in understanding how the counting & shifting processes work.

This module has two sections, The upper one shows data from the Active Sample that is currently loaded in the Demo,

showing the Format, next the Vote Data, and lastly a Sharable Array which can be copied a pasted to any notepad in one step. The Lower Section is labeled Saved Samples,

which shows separate boxes of a saved Sharable Datas Array along with an associated editable box for notes about that sample.

Together these two sections allows us to Save a Sample Election with a simple click of the "Save To Web" button, And also to reload any Saved Election with a click of the "Add To Active" button, with a following "Re-Load Sample" button click, above
If you get too many samples saved, or want to delete one, you can click on any of them to select it, and then click the "Remove Sample" button.

Note: this version of the Save & Share utility only Saves the Sharing data until the browser is closed, unless you save them to the web, via NotePad or Notes, etc. or by using one of the Zip-Link Utilites like, Data-Card, which allows Data Transfer between different devices, without syncing them, which in our opinion, syncing is insecure against virus injection.

Step thru the ballot counting: tutorial

Note: In the upper right corner, above the 'ACTIVE TABLE', you will see the "Show Totals" button. Click on it, and the "SHIFT TABLE" will be replaced by the "ACTIVE VOTE TOTALS" Tables, and the "Show Totals" button" will now be labeled "Show Shift", so you can switch them back and forth. ~ try It.

under the ACTIVE VOTE TOTALS slide there are actualy 4 viewable tables, 2 on the top row ... tables, the left most the "TOTAL VOTES ~ per Candidate" is the primary data, the Table on the right of that is the "COMBINED TOTALS" table which is shown for referance. With the "VOTE TOTALS' Tables visable, click thru the Step buttons again.

on clicking Step 1...you will see candidate's colunm with the least votes marked in gray, If there is a Tie in the 1st choice row then we move to the 2nd choice.. etc. After marking the weakest candidate's column, Step 2 will eliminate the data in the marked column. as well as the .....