Single transferable vote how does it work

At the first stage, the voting papers are counted to determine the total valid vote, and then calculate the quota needed for electing a candidate. The quota is calculated by dividing the total number of valid votes by 1 more than the number to be elected i.

Any candidate who has at least 6. The decision at every further stage is whether to a exclude a candidate who cannot be elected, or b take away the surplus of a candidate who has been elected. The decision is based on the gap between the candidate with the lowest number of votes there can be more than one and the next highest candidate. If that gap exceeds the total remaining surplus to be redistributed, then an exclusion can be made, because the candidate could never achieve the quota.

If an exclusion is made, all papers transfer at exactly the same value as they were at the start of the stage. If there is a surplus, papers that transfer may change value; e.

The total value of all transferring papers is therefore 2 the surplus. It is the original proportional representation system. STV is not one of the systems on the ballot in the BC referendum but it is a key component of one of the system voters can choose — Rural-Urban Proportional. Instead of electing one MLA in each single member riding first-past-the-post , voters elect a small team of MLAs in a multi-member local district.

For example, a five single member riding could become one multi-member district electing five MLAs. The five MLAs would reflect the diversity of how people voted. The BC Citizens Assembly recommended districts elect between two and seven members, depending on the geography of the area. Before we do anything else we need to work out the number of votes a candidate needs to be elected. This is called the quota. First we count the preferences for each of the 4 candidates.

Nobody had more than the quota so we move to the 2 nd round. As no-one met the quota — the candidate with the fewest votes at the 1 st stage is removed from the count. Of the votes examined, 13 voters indicated a 2 nd preference for Barnes taking the total to , voters indicated a 2 nd preference for Dunn and voters indicated a 2 nd preference for Adams. So once again we take the candidate with the fewest votes at the 2 nd stage and this is Barnes.

If the next available preference is for a candidate that has already been excluded, i. After the 3 rd stage Adams received the most votes after the preferences of the excluded candidates were transferred.