Module 4: Apportionment and Voting

SECTION 2 The Voting Systems

Voting is a tool used by groups of people in making a collective decision. It can be presented
conveniently in terms of an election system in which one can select a particular candidate out of a
set of candidates on the basis of ballots cast by voters.

In a democratic country like the Philippines, voting is an exercise of rights and duties as citizens of
the country. Filipinos vote in the local elections, national elections, reality shows, and even small
organizations. Any voting process starts with voting for a candidate followed by the counting of
votes and then declaring the winner of the election.

✔ DIAGNOSTICS
Instructions: If you think the statement is correct, write AGREE. Otherwise, write
DISAGREE.
________ 1. You can find a perfect voting method.
________ 2. For more than two candidates in an election, the winner may not constitute a
majority.

The Majority System and Plurality of Voting

The majority system is the most common voting system applied to an election with only two
candidates. The winner in the majority system requires more than half of the people voting for an
issue or a candidate. Majority means more than 50% of the total voters or all the other votes
combined. Thus, in an election consisting of two candidates and 100 voters, the candidate with 51
votes or higher wins the election.

For more than two candidates, it is possible that the one with the most votes may not constitute a
majority. In this case, the winner of this election will be based on the plurality method of voting.
The winner by this method is the candidate with the most votes or most first-place votes for ranked
candidates. In the plurality system, alternative choices are not considered.

Example 1
The table below shows the popular vote for three candidates in a student council election.

Candidate Votes
A 206
B 116
C 92

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Total 414

a. Which candidate receives the majority of the votes?

b. Who wins the election?
Solution
a. The majority requires at least 414/2 + 1 = 208 votes. Hence, no one gets the majority vote.
b. Based on the plurality method of voting, candidate A receives the most votes so he should be
declared as the winner of this election.

Example 2
The results of an election with 4 candidates and 50 voters are shown in the preference list below.
Using the plurality method of voting, which candidate wins this election?

Candidate Ranking
A 1 4 2 4 2
B 3 3 1 3 4
C 2 1 4 1 3
D 4 2 3 2 1
No. of Votes 12 8 16 10 4

Solution
Getting all the total of first-place votes, you will obtain the following:

Total First-Pla
Candidate Ranking
Votes
A 1 4 2 4 2 12
B 3 3 1 3 4 16
C 2 1 4 1 3 18
D 4 2 3 2 1 4
No. of Votes 12 8 16 10 4 50

Candidate C has the most number of first-place votes but he wins in this election according to the
plurality method. [Candidate C did not get the majority of the votes (at least 26 votes).]

Borda Count Method

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In this method, each candidate is assigned a weight according to their rank in the preference list. For
n number of candidates, the highest rank (the most favorite) will have n points and the lowest rank
(the least favorite) will have 1 point. The Borda count is the sum of these weights given to a
candidate. The candidate who receives the highest Borda count will be declared the winner.

Example 3
Using the Borda count method, determine the winner in the preference list in Example 2.

Solution
Totaling the weights over 50 ballots, the Borda counts for the following candidates are given below.

CANDIDATE A (n = 4)
RANK Rank Point No. of Votes Total
1 4 12 48
4 1 8 8
2 3 16 48
4 1 10 10
2 3 4 12
Borda Count = 126

CANDIDATE B (n = 4)
RANK Rank Point No. of Votes Total
3 2 12 24
3 2 8 16
1 4 16 64
3 2 10 20
4 1 4 4
Borda Count = 128

CANDIDATE C (n = 4)
RANK Rank Point No. of Votes Total
2 3 12 36
1 4 8 32
4 1 16 16

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1 4 10 40
3 2 4 8
Borda Count = 132

CANDIDATE D (n = 4)
RANK Rank Point No. of Votes Total
4 1 12 12
2 3 8 24
3 2 16 32
2 3 10 30
1 4 4 16
Borda Count = 114

The candidate with the highest Borda count is candidate C. Thus, candidate C wins the election.

Plurality with Elimination

Plurality with elimination is a variation of the plurality method in which the alternative choices of
the voters are taken into consideration.

The candidate with the fewest number of first-place votes is first eliminated. In case there are two
alternatives with the same lowest votes, then both are to be eliminated. The remaining candidates
are re-ranked with the assumption that voters' preferences do not change from round to round.

Example 4
Answer Example 2 using the method of plurality with elimination.

Candidate Ranking
A 1 4 2 4 2
B 3 3 1 3 4
C 2 1 4 1 3
D 4 2 3 2 1
No. of Votes 12 8 16 10 4

Solution

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For round 1, candidate D should be eliminated.

Candidate Total First-Place Votes

A 12
B 16
C 18
D 4

Round 2
Candidate Ranking
A 1 3 2 3 1
B 3 2 1 2 3
C 2 1 3 1 2
No. of Votes 12 8 16 10 4

Candidate Total First-Place Votes

A 12 + 4 = 16
B 16
C 8 + 10 = 18

Candidates A and B have the same lowest first-place votes, so both should be eliminated. Thus, the
winner for this method is candidate C.

The Top Two Runoff Method

The two candidates with the most number of first-place votes are removed from the preference list
and are then re-ranked for a new preference list. The one with the higher first-place votes in the new
preference list between these two candidates will be declared the winner. The top two runoff
method satisfies the majority criterion.

Example 5
Apply the top two runoff method to the preference list from Example 2.

Solution
Counting the total first-place votes for each candidate, you will obtain the following.

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Total First-Pla
Candidate Ranking
Votes
A 1 4 2 4 2 12
B 2 3 1 3 3 16
C 3 1 4 1 4 18
D 4 2 3 2 1 4
No. of Votes 12 8 16 10 4

The top two candidates with the most number of first-place votes are candidates B and C. Thus,
remove candidates A and D from the list. This gives us the following preference list.

Total First-Pla
Candidate Ranking
Votes
B 1 2 1 2 1 32
C 2 1 2 1 2 18
No. of Votes 12 8 16 10 4

Thus, candidate B wins this election. Note that in the plurality method, candidate C wins the
election.

Approval Voting System

In this type of voting, a voter may choose more than one option or candidate. Each vote coming
from one voter will be counted as one vote, and the one with the most number of total votes will be
declared the winner. For large elections, approval voting may be considered a better method
because it measures the overall support for a candidate.

Example 6
The members of a scholarship council have picked their choices from the top four applicants for a
scholarship. The results are indicated in the table of preference below.

Choices Number of Votes

Harry, Liam, and Louis 5
Harry, Liam, and Niall 3
Niall and Louis 2

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Harry and Niall 4

Who gets the scholarship using the approval voting system?

Solution
Tallying the votes, you will obtain the following:

Candidate Number of Votes

Harry 5 + 3 + 4 = 12
Liam 5+3=8
Louis 5+2=7
Niall 3+2+4=9

Hence, Harry gets the scholarship with a total of 12 votes.

The Method of Pairwise Comparison

In the method of pairwise comparison, each candidate is compared head-to-head with each of the
candidates. The candidate with the most number of wins from these comparisons will be declared
the winner. This method satisfies the majority, Condorcet, and monotonicity criteria of fairness in
voting which will be discussed in detail in the next section.

Example 7
The members of a mechanical engineering club consisting of 165 active members were asked to
decide in which sports event the club should participate in the coming intercollegiate games. If the
members marked their ballots as shown in the preference table below, which event wins as the top
choice using the method of pairwise comparison?

Number of
26 60 35 44
Voters
1st choice volleyball basketball football volleyball
2nd choice basketball volleyball basketball basketball
3rd choice swimming swimming volleyball football
4th choice football football swimming swimming

Solution

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Number of Voters 26 60 35 44 Total First-Place Votes

Volleyball (V) 1 2 3 1 70
Basketball (B) 2 1 2 2 60
Football (F) 4 4 1 3 35
Swimming (S) 3 3 4 4 0

Possible comparisons are highlighted in the table below.

V B F S
V B V V
B B B
F S
S

Pairwise comparisons:

Number of Voters 26 60 35 44 Total First-Place Votes

V 1 2 3 1 26 + 44 = 70
B (winner) 2 1 2 2 60 + 35 = 95

Number of Voters 26 60 35 44 Total First-Place Votes

V (winner) 1 2 3 1 26 + 60 + 44 = 130
F 4 4 1 3 35

Number of Voters 26 60 35 44 Total First-Place Votes

V (winner) 1 2 3 1 165
S 3 3 4 4 0

Number of Voters 26 60 35 44 Total First-Place Votes

B (winner) 2 1 2 2 26 + 60 + 44 = 130
F 4 4 1 3 35

Number of Voters 26 60 35 44 Total First-Place Votes

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B (winner) 2 1 2 2 26 + 60 + 35 + 44 = 165
S 3 3 4 4 0

Number of Voters 26 60 35 44 Total First-Place Votes

F 4 4 1 3 35 + 44 = 79
S (winner) 3 3 4 4 26 + 60 = 86

Below is the summary of the winner in each comparison.

V B F S
V B V V
B B B
F S
S

From the above table, basketball has the most number of wins. Therefore, this option should be the
top choice by pairwise comparison method.

Measuring Fairness in Voting

In voting, what does the word fair mean? When are the results of an election or a particular voting
method considered fair? People normally think that a majority candidate is a very strong candidate
and it is not fair when the candidate loses an election. This thinking leads to one notion of fairness
which is the majority criterion. On the other hand, a single example of an election that fails to meet
the fairness criterion would be sufficient to show that a particular method is not fair. The following
are the four basic criteria of fairness:

1. The Majority Criterion

If a candidate receives the majority of first-place votes in an election, then this candidate should be
declared the winner. The method of plurality is an extension of the majority system. If the candidate
is a majority candidate then clearly he should also be the plurality winner. In some cases, the winner
may not have the approval of majority; nevertheless, the plurality method satisfies the majority
fairness criterion.

2. The Condorcet Criterion

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If a candidate is a Condorcet candidate, then he should be the winner of the election. A candidate is
said to be a Condorcet candidate if he wins in all of the one-to-one comparisons with the other
candidates. The pairwise comparison method satisfies the Condorcet criterion.

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