RANKEDCHOICES.COM: Quick Explainer
ACESSING THE VOTE PAGE:
Option A: QR Codes
- Council members will be provided with QR codes for voting by phone (one QR code per commission/board) Note: In a multi-seat appointment with unique seat requirements, seat-specific ballots will be created. Option B: Website Access
- The vote page can be accessed by visiting: rankedchoices.com/item# (where item# is the related item) EXAMPLE: www.rankedchoices.com/16a
VOTE PAGE (WITHOUT NAME)
The candidate list will appear once a name is entered. EXAMPLE: Councilmember Zwick
VOTE PAGE (WITH NAME)
Interface
- Trash icon (circled in red): Allows you to remove a candidate - Reset button (circled in green): Restores the original candidate list How to vote
- Drag and slide the candidates to your preferred ranking (top being first, bottom being last) - Click on “Vote!” to complete
RANKEDCHOICES.COM: Quick Explainer
RESULTS PAGE (MULTI-SEAT APPOINTMENT)
Scenario A: Three candidates for two seats
Results Summary
Detailed Results (Round 1)
- Quota (circled in red): Minimum number of votes needed to be elected - Only one candidate (Susman, Matthew B.) exceeded the quota (threshold) and was elected to one of the two open seats.
RANKEDCHOICES.COM: Quick Explainer
Detailed Results (Round 2)
- Voters (Snell, Hall, Raskin, Zwick) who voted for the first-round winner (Susman, Matthew B.*) have their second choices added to the 2nd round vote.
- NOTE: Being that these are second choices, their vote-value (or weight) is less than the first-round choices (0.4175 in this scenario)
- For voters (Zernitskaya, Negrete, Torosis) who selected one of the two remaining candidates as their first choice, their votes still hold the vote-value (or weight) of 1.
RANKEDCHOICES.COM: Quick Explainer
RESULTS PAGE (MULTI-SEAT APPOINTMENT)
Scenario B: Four candidates for two seats
Results Summary
Detailed Results (Round 1)
- Quota (circled in red): Minimum number of votes needed to be elected - Only one candidate (Kennedy, James G.) exceeded the quota (threshold) and was elected to one of two open seats
RANKEDCHOICES.COM: Quick Explainer
Detailed Results (Round 2)
- Voters (Torosis, Negrete, Raskin) who voted for the first-round winner (Kennedy, James G.*) have their second choices added to the 2nd round vote.
- NOTE: Being that these are second choices, their vote-value (or weight) is less than the first-round choices (0.2233 in this scenario)
- For voters (Zernitskaya, Snell, Zwick, Hall) who selected one of the two remaining candidates as their first choice, their vote still holds the vote-value (or weight) of 1.
1. Explain the WIGM system
a. How it compares to the other system
b. Where it’s used
c. Provide math
2. Voting process
a. Candidate list is announced by clerk
b.
c. Council selects nominees (EXPLAIN A NOMINEE COULD THEORETICALLY WIN, SO BE SURE) RANKEDCHOICES.COM: Quick Explainer
Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method (WIGM)
The number of voters who chose a candidate as their first choice is added to the number of voters who chose the candidate as their second, third, etc. choice, with each count given approximately 2/3 of the weight given to the previous count. Then all the columns are added together to arrive at a tiebreaker value for each candidate. Explainer
1. After voters cast their ballots, ranking their preferred candidates for election, the tabulation of votes takes those rankings into account. The process can involve multiple rounds of counting but is pretty simple:
2. We determine how many votes are needed to win an election, whether it’s a single-winner or multi-winner election. We call that number the threshold (quota).
3. We count the first-ranked candidates on all ballots to see which candidates meet the threshold (quota). Any candidate who has so few votes that she/he cannot mathematically meet the threshold at any point is eliminated.
4. Any candidate who meets the threshold is a winner, and if the number of winners equals the number of seats to be elected, we’re done.
5. Otherwise, we look at the winners’ ballots again but this time at the second-ranked candidates on those ballots, and we transfer votes to candidates who are not yet winners and who haven’t been eliminated—but we transfer those votes only to the extent that the winners had more than enough votes to win. So, if Winner A received 20% over the threshold, the votes transferred to the second-ranked candidates are only 20% of a whole vote.
6. This process repeats through as many rounds of counting as necessary until the number of winners equals the number of seats to be filled.