Method 1 : Plurality Method

• Outcome only depends on 1st place votes. Candidate with the highest number of 1st place votes
wins the election. (If we are ranking the candidates, the candidate with the second most 1st place
votes is second, the candidate with the third most 1st place votes is third and so on.)

1st row represents 1st choice (or place ) votes.

• Count how many 1st place votes each candidate gets.

A = 14
B=4
C = 10+1 = 11
D=8

• A has most 1st place votes with 14, so A is the winner of the election.

• Complete ranking :
1st place = A (14 votes)
2nd place = C (11 votes)
3rd place = D (8 votes)
4th place = B (4 votes)
Method 2 : The Borda Count Method

• In an election with N candidates we give 1 point for last place, 2 points for second from last place,
and so on. At the top of the ballot, a first-place vote is worth N points.

Eg: Consider an election with 5 candidates. Then 1st place vote gets 5 points, 2nd place vote gets 4
points, 3rd place vote gets 3 points , 4th place vote gets 2 points and 5th place vote gets 1 point.

• The points are tallied for each candidate separately, and the candidate with the highest total is
the winner.

• If we are ranking the candidates, the candidate with the second-most points comes in second, the
candidate with the third-most points comes in third, and so on.

4 pt

3 pt

2 pt

1 pt

• First find the Borda count of each candidate.

A = 4 x 14 + 3 x 0 + 2 x 0 + 1 x 23 = 56 + 0 + 0 +23 = 79

A has 14 1st A has zero 2nd A has zero 3rd A has 23 4th
place votes. place votes. place votes. place votes.

B = 4 x 4 + 3 x 24 + 2x 9 + 1 x 0 = 16 + 72 + 18 + 0 = 106
C = 4 x 11 + 3 x 8 + 2 x 18 + 1 x 0 = 44 + 24 + 36+ 0 = 104
D = 4 x 8 + 3 x 5 + 2 x 10 + 1 x 14 = 32 + 15 +20 + 14 = 81

• B has the highest Borda count with 106. Therefore, B is the winner of the election.

• Complete ranking :
1st place = B (106 pts)
2nd place = C (104 pts)
3rd place = D (81 pts)
4th place = A (79 pts)
Method 3 : Plurality with Elimination Method

• Round 1: Count the first-place votes for each candidate, just as you would in the plurality method.
If a candidate has a majority of first-place votes, then that candidate is the winner. Otherwise,
eliminate the candidate (or candidates if there is a tie) with the fewest first-place votes.

• Round 2: Cross out the name(s) of the candidates eliminated from the preference schedule and
transfer those votes to the next eligible candidates on those ballots. Recount the votes. If a
candidate has a majority then declare that candidate the winner. Otherwise, eliminate the
candidate with the fewest votes.

• Rounds 3, 4, . . .: Repeat the process, each time eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes
and transferring those votes to the next eligible candidates. Continue until there is a candidate
with a majority. That candidate is the winner of the election.

B’s votes are transferred to the next highest

placed candidate left in that column. In this case
D gets those 4 votes.
Round 1 :

B is eliminated and B’s 4 votes are assigned to the next highest ranked person left in that column.
Therefore, D gets those 4 votes.

Round 2 :

C is eliminated and 10 of C’s votes from column 3 are transferred to D as he’s the next highest ranked
candidate left as B is already eliminated. 1 vote of C from last column is also given to D. Therefore, D
receives 11 total votes in this round.

Round 3 :

A has the lowest number of votes, so A is eliminated, and the only candidate left is D. Therefore, D is the
winner of the election.

• Complete ranking :
1st place = D (last candidate remaining)
2nd place = A (eliminated in 3rd round)
3rd place = C(eliminated in 2nd round)
4th place = B (eliminated in 1st round)
Method 4 : The Method of Pairwise Comparisons

• Write down all possible pairwise comparisons.

Eg: Consider an election with 5 candidates A,B,C,D and E. Write down all possible pairwise
comparisons.

A vs B
A vs C First write down all comparisons that can be
A vs D made with candidate A
A vs E
B vs C Next write down all comparisons that can be
B vs D made with B.
B vs E
C vs D Next write down all comparisons that can be
C vs E made with C.
D vs E Finally, comparisons with D.

• Given any two candidates—call them X and Y—we can count how many voters rank X above Y and
how many rank Y above X. The one with the most votes wins the pairwise comparison.

• For each possible pairwise comparison between candidates, give 1 point to the winner, 0 points
to the loser (if the pairwise comparison ends up in a tie give each candidate 0.5 point).

• The candidate with the most points is the winner. (If we are ranking the candidates, the candidate
with the second most points is second, and so on.)
A vs B comparison :

Only look at A and B votes , ignore all other candidates. Deleting all candidates except A and B, will give
us the following table.

Number of voters 14 10 8 4 1
1st A B B B B
2nd B A A A A

A has 14 1st place votes and B has 23 1st place votes. Therefore, winner in this comparison is Band B gets
1 point.

A vs C comparison :

Deleting all candidates except A and C, will give us the following table.

Number of voters 14 10 8 4 1
1st A C C C C
2nd C A A A A

A has 14 1st place votes and C has 23 1st place votes. Therefore, winner in this comparison is C and C gets
1 point.

A vs D comparison :

Deleting all candidates except A and D, will give us the following table.

Number of voters 14 10 8 4 1
1st A D D D D
2nd C A A A A

A has 14 1st place votes and D has 23 1st place votes. Therefore, winner in this comparison is D and D gets
1 point.

B vs C comparison :

Deleting all candidates except B and C, will give us the following table.

Number of voters 14 10 8 4 1
1st B C C B C
2nd C B B C B

B has 18 1st place votes and C has 19 1st place votes. Therefore, winner in this comparison is C and C gets
1 point.
B vs D comparison :

Deleting all candidates except B and D, will give us the following table.

Number of voters 14 10 8 4 1
1st B B D B D
2nd D D B D B

B has 28 1st place votes and D has 9 1st place votes. Therefore, winner in this comparison is B and B gets 1
point.

C vs D comparison :

Deleting all candidates except C and D, will give us the following table.

Number of voters 14 10 8 4 1
1st C C D D C
2nd D D C C D

C has 25 1st place votes and D has 12 1st place votes. Therefore, winner in this comparison is C and C gets
1 point.

Final table:

Pairwise Comparisons Votes Winner

A vs B A (14) ; B (23) B ( 1 pt)
A vs C A (14) ; C (23) C ( 1 pt)
A vs D A (14) ; D (23) D (1 pt )
B vs C B (18) ; C (19) C (1 pt )
B vs D B (28) ; D (9) B (1 pt )
C vs D C (25) ; D (12) C ( 1pt )
Total points : A =0 , B =2 , C =3 , D = 1

• C has the highest number of points with 3. Therefore, C is the winner of the election.

• Complete ranking :
1st place = C (3 pts)
2nd place = B (2 pts)
3rd place = D (1 pts)
4th place = A (0 pts)

• C won each of the pairwise comparisons against the other candidates. We call such a candidate a
Condorcet candidate.