3. Consider an example of 21 voters who elects a candidate from a pool of three

Question

3. Consider an example of 21 voters who elects a candidate from a pool of three candidates, A, B and C.The voters’ rankings of the three candidates are given below

Voters

3.1. Suppose the majority rule is used for the election. Explain who will be elected.

3.2. Who will be elected if the plurality rule is used for the election? Explain.

3.3. Find out who will be elected if the election rule is plurality with runoff.

3.4. From your answers to 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3, do you observe whether the same candidate gets elected?

[Is the question, “who should be elected?”, a simple and naive question?]

Explanation / Answer

3.1 In majority vote system no one will achieve the majority (11 votes or 50% of total votes ), with the highest scorer winning 8 votes.

3,2 In plurality vote, A will win with 8 votes.

3.3 In plurality with runoff the top 2 candidates with highest number of votes will compete in the second round. Since A and B are the top and second best scorers with 8 and 7 votes respectively, they compete with each other in second round with C eliminated. Now that C is eliminated, those putting C at top will vote for their second choice that is B for 6 voters. Now the scores will be A-8, B - 13. Hence B will win.

3.4 As we see that winners in all three cases are different because each rule favours different candidate.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse 3
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.