Rules for Preferential Voting

1. On the preferential ballot - for each office to be filled the voter is asked to indicate the order in which he prefers all the candidates, placing the numeral 1 beside his first preference, the numeral 2 beside his second preference, and so on for every possible choice.

2. In counting the votes for a given office, the ballots are arranged in piles according to the indicated first preferences – one pile for each candidate.

3. The number of ballots in each pile is then recorded for the tellers’ report. These piles remain identified with the names of the same candidates throughout the counting procedure until all but one is eliminated as described below.

4. If more than half of the ballots show one candidate indicated as first choice, that choice has a majority in the ordinary sense and the candidate is elected. But if there is no such majority, candidates are eliminated one by one, beginning with the least popular, until one prevails, as follows:

   1. The ballots in the thinnest pile – that is, those containing the name designated as first choice by the fewest number of voters – are redistributed into the other piles according to the names marked as second choice on these ballots.

   2. The number of ballots in each remaining pile after this distribution is again recorded.

   3. If more than half of the ballots are now in one pile, that candidate is elected. If not, the next least popular candidate is similarly eliminated, by taking the thinnest remaining pile and redistributing its ballots according to their second choices into the other piles, except that, if the name eliminated in the last distribution is indicated as second choice on a ballot, that ballot is placed accordingly to its third choice.

   4. Again, the number of ballots in each existing pile is recorded, and if necessary, the process is repeated – by redistributing each time the ballots in the thinnest remaining pile, according to the marked second choice or most-preferred choice among those not yet eliminated – until one pile contains more than half of the ballots, the result being thereby determined.

   5. The tellers’ report consists of a table listing all candidates, with the number of ballots that were in each pile after each successive distribution.

5. If a ballot having one or more names not marked with any numeral comes up for placement at any stage of the counting and all of its marked names have been eliminated, it should not be placed in any pile, but should be set aside.

6. If at any point two or more candidates are tied for the least popular position, the ballots in their piles are redistributed in a single step, all of the tied names being treated as eliminated.

7. In the event of a tie in the winning position – which would imply that the elimination process is continued until the ballots are reduced to two or more equal piles – the election should be resolved in favor of the candidate that was strongest in terms of first choice (by referring to the record of the first distribution).