INTRODUCTION TO

VOTING
What does majority support mean?

Majority of votes: a candidate with more than 50% of the votes.

Example: If 50 people will vote for an organization’s election, how
many votes are needed for a majority?
Answer:
, 25 votes is 50% but wee need more than 50% votes, so 26 votes
or higher for a majority.

To organize and summarize results of an election, we use what

we call a preference table.
Example: Construct a preference table for the Society of Math
Majors’ election for president.
Preference table for the ballots above.

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A
2nd B C B D D B
3rd D B C C B D
4th A A D A A C

This preference table joins all the ballots together to

summarize the results of the election.
Methods to Determine the Result of an Election

1. Plurality Method
2. Plurality with elimination method
3. Borda Count method
4. Pairwise comparison method
1. PLURALITY METHOD

The candidate with the most first place votes, wins. The elected
candidate using this method does not have to have majority of
votes.
Example: Using the preference table below, as the result of the
election, four members of the organization are running as a
president of the organization, namely candidates A,B,C, and D.
The members were asked to rank the four candidates.
PLURALITY METHOD

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A
2nd B C B D D B
3rd D B C C B D
4th A A D A A C

a. How many students voted C as their first in rank? 11

b. How many students voted their candidate in this order: A, B, C,
and D? 7
c. How many students voted in this election? 30
PLURALITY METHOD
Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A
2nd B C B D D B
3rd D B C C B D
4th A A D A A C

Who will win as the president using the Plurality method?

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A

9
Candidate A:
4
Candidate B:
11 WINNER
Candidate C: 6
Candidate D:
2. PLURALITY WITH ELIMINATION METHOD

It is a variation of Plurality method of voting called plurality with

elimination. This method is performed in rounds and considers
voter’s alternate choices by eliminating the candidate/s with the
fewest first-place votes for every round. If only two candidates are
remaining then the candidate with the most votes wins the
election.
Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A
2nd B C B D D B
3rd D B C C B D
4th A A D A A C
PLURALITY WITH ELIMINATION METHOD

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A
2nd B C B D D B
3rd D B C C B D
4th A A D A A C

Candidate A: 7+2=9
Candidate C has the highest votes but
Candidate B: 4 not a majority. Therefore, there is no
winner yet. Since, candidate B has the
Candidate C: 10+1=11 fewest votes then he has to be
eliminated.
Candidate D: 6
PLURALITY WITH ELIMINATION METHOD

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A C A
2nd C D D
3rd D C C D
4th A A D A A C

Candidate A: 7+2=9

Candidate C: 10+1=11
Candidate D: 6
PLURALITY WITH ELIMINATION METHOD

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A D C A
2nd D C C C D D
3rd A A C A A C

Candidate A: 7+2=9
Candidate C has the highest votes but
Candidate C: 10+1=11 not a majority. Therefore, there is no
winner yet. Since, candidate A has the
Candidate D: 6+4=10 fewest votes then he has to be
eliminated.
PLURALITY WITH ELIMINATION METHOD

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D D C
2nd D C C C D D
3rd C C

Candidate C: 10+1=11
Candidate D: 6+4=10
PLURALITY WITH ELIMINATION METHOD

Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D C D C D
2nd D C D C D C

The votes required for the majority is

Candidate C: 10+7+1=18 16 and above. Since, candidate C got
the highest and majority of votes then
Candidate D: 6+4+2=12 he is declared the winner.
3. BORDA COUNT

In this method each voter ranks the candidates by giving points to the voter’s
choice. The voters least choice candidate receives 1 point and 2 points for the
next candidate and so on. The candidate receives the most total points is
declared as the winner.
Example:
Number of
Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A
2nd B C B D D B
3rd D B C C B D
4th A A D A A C

The first choice receives 4 points, the second choice receives 3 points, the third
choice receives 2 points and the last choice receives 1 point.
BORDA COUNT
Number of
Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st (4pts) C (40) D (24) A (28) B (16) C (4) A (8)
2nd (3pts) B (30) C (18) B (21) D (12) D (3) B (6)
3rd (2pts) D (20) B (12) C (14) C (8) B (2) D (4)
4th (1pt) A (10) A (6) D (7) A (4) A (1) C (2)

Summary of points for each candidate

Candidate A: 10+6+28+4+1+8=57
Candidate B: 30+12+21+16+2+6=87 WINNER
Candidate C: 40+18+14+8+4+2=86
Candidate D: 20+24+7+12+3+4=70
4. PAIRWISE COMPARISON VOTING METHOD

This voting method is also known as “head to head” method.

In this method , the voters rank the candidates. The preferred
candidate receives 1 point, point for the tie candidates and zero
point for the loss. After all the comparisons are made among the
candidates, the candidate with the highest number of points is
declared the winner.
 PAIRWISE COMPARISON VOTING METHOD
Number
of Votes 10 6 7 4 1 2
1st C D A B C A
2nd B C B D D B
3rd D B C C B D
4th A A D A A C

C vs B C vs D C vs A B vs D B vs A D vs A
10 7 10 6 10 7 10 6 10 7 10 7
6 4 7 4 6 3 7 1 6 2 6 2
1 2 1 2 4 4 4 4
17 13 18 12 1 2 1
21 9 23 7 21 9 21 9

Candidate A= 0 Candidate B= 2
Candidate C= 3 WINNERCandidate D= 1