This page provides illustrates some improved ways of reporting ranked choice voting results, using the November, 2011 contest for San Francisco mayor as an example. This sample offers some improvements by:
Using standard and most commonly used terminology for ranked choice voting, especially as used in California
Avoiding misleading terminology.
Separating aggregations of basic ballot accounting.
Giving a summary of votes in terms of the maximum votes counted for each candidate, which recognizes all transfers and is consistent with the elections infobox high-level presentation, rather than just first-choice or first round votes.
Providing a graphical representation of key vote count components for quicker and more intuitive understanding of the overall contest, integrated with supporting text quantities.
The numbers used in this sample are the latest numbers (November 30) published by the San Francisco Department of Elections.
The sample has built on existing election templates, modifying them where appropriate and for the the purposes of this sample, storing them in the User: namespace.
The following table shows a summary of the instant runoff for the election. The table shows the round in which the candidate was defeated or elected the winner, the votes for the candidate in that round, and what share those votes were of all votes counting for any candidate in that round. There is also a bar graph showing those votes for each candidate and categorized as either first-round votes or votes that were transferred from another candidate.
Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, though most candidates in San Francisco do receive funding and support from various political parties.
The following table shows how votes were counted[3] in a series of rounds of instant runoffs. Each voter could mark which candidates were the voter's first, second, and third choice. Each voter had one vote, but could mark three choices for how that vote can be counted. In each round, the vote is counted for the most preferred candidate that has not yet been eliminated. Then one or more candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated. Votes that counted for an eliminated candidate are transferred to the voter's next most preferred candidate that has not yet been eliminated.
Continuing votes are votes that counted for a candidate in that round. Exhausted ballots represent votes that could not be transferred because a less preferred candidate was not marked on the ballot. Voters were allowed to mark only three choices because of voting system limitations. Over votes are votes that could not be counted for a candidate because more than one candidate was marked for a choice that was ready to be counted. Under votes are ballots were left blank or that only marked a choice for a write-in candidate that had not qualified as a write-in candidate.
