Choosing the Right Voting System

Plurality

Approval

• Can be set up to be used to elect a single option, whether that is a candidate or a "Yes"/"No" statement.

• When set up this way, options are mutually exclusive; you are choosing between options and can only cast one vote.

• Works for "Yes/No" situations. Examples include: passing a bylaw amendment, ratifying a budget or contract, and acclaiming a single candidate for an executive position.

• The option with the most votes at the end of the election wins. If you're just doing a referendum with two options, this will naturally be the option with the majority (i.e. the option with greater than 50% of the votes).

• Used to elect a single candidate for a position.

• Candidates are not mutually exclusive of each other; you may select (vote for) as many of the listed options as you like. This means that it inherently cannot work for a "Yes/No" situation because voters can vote for both "Yes" AND "No" options.

• Can be used as an alternative to plurality in any single-winner candidate scenario, such as selecting board, committee, and executive members (e.g., President, Vice-President), and is excellent for voting on winners for awards.

• The candidate with the most votes at the end of the election wins.

Plurality

Cumulative

• Used to elect single or multiple candidates for a position.

• The number of votes you can cast is equal to the number of vacancies for the position; however, you can only vote for a specific candidate once.

• It is the voting system used in North American political elections, and is also commonly known as "First past the post".

• It's often used for electing board, committee, and executive members (e.g., President, Vice-President).

• The candidate(s) with the most votes at the end of the election wins. If running a plurality with a single vacancy and two candidates, the winner will hold the majority (i.e. received greater than 50% of the votes).

• Used for electing multiple candidates for a position.

• The number of votes you can cast is equal to the number of vacancies for the position.

• Can distribute your votes to the candidates as you see fit: all votes to a single candidate, some votes to one candidate and some to another, or a single vote to each of your desired candidates.

• Legislated as the mandatory voting method in California Homeowners' Association elections.

• Is not the same as a weighted ballot because all voters receive the same number of votes to distribute across candidates, whereas weightings can be different for each voter. Additionally, a weighted ballot does not allow you to distribute votes across candidates.

• Can be used for electing board, committee, and executive members (e.g., President, Vice-President).

• The candidates with the most votes at the end of the election wins.

Preferential

Scored

• Used to elect single or multiple candidates for a position.

• Instead of selecting options on a ballot, you rank candidates in order of most preferred to least preferred.

• Not all candidates need to be ranked, but rankings can only be used once (for example, two candidates cannot receive a ranking of "1").

• Can be used for electing board, committee, and executive members (e.g., President, Vice-President).

• Votes are assigned to candidates based on voter preference (i.e. a candidate who received a "most preferred" rank will receive one vote from that voter).

• When multiple vacancies are available for a position (i.e. multiple candidates are being elected), Single Transferable Vote (STV) is used to calculate the vote redistribution through rounds.

• The candidate(s) with the most votes at the end of the election wins.

• Used to elect a single candidate for a position.

• Can also be used to run rating scale questions where there is no winner elected (i.e. you are running a survey).

• Instead of selecting options on a ballot, you score/rate candidates/options on a given scale.

• All candidates/options must be scored/rated, but the same scores/ratings can be used more than once (for example, two candidates can receive the same score of "1").

• It's good for electing board, committee, and executive members (e.g., President, Vice-President), as well as running survey, collecting feedback, and approving new members into your organization.

• When being used to elect a winner, the candidate with the highest average score is the winner.

• When not being used to elect a winner, the total vote breakdown is displayed for your interpretation.