Preferential voting explained

Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to several different types of electoral systems. Many preferential voting systems originated in, or were refined in, national and sub-national elections in Australia, where alternative voting (AV) is widely used.^[1]

Classifications

• Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as contingency votes (any system other than plurality or anti-plurality)
• Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of preference (American literature)
  • Instant-runoff voting and single transferable vote, referred to as "preferential voting" in Australia by way of conflation
  • Bucklin voting, similarly conflated during the Progressive Era
  • Optional preferential voting
• Open list representation, a form of party-list proportional representation where "preference votes" are used to express preference for individual candidates instead of party lists.

See also

• Electoral system
• Social choice theory
• Weighted voting
• Rated voting

Notes and References

1. Reilly . Benjamin . July 2004 . The global spread of preferential voting: Australian institutional imperialism? . Australian Journal of Political Science . 39 . 2 . 253–266 . EBSCOhost.