Single transferable vote (STV)
Create this voteSingle transferable vote chooses several winners from ranked ballots. It can choose people, proposals, or other options. Each voter has one vote, which can transfer to help fill the available places.
Start with each ballot’s first choice. An option that reaches the required total, called the quota, takes a place. Its surplus votes transfer to the next choices still in the running. If no option reaches the quota, eliminate the lowest and transfer its votes. Continue until all places are filled.
Five votes secure a place. With twelve votes in total, only two options can receive five votes each.
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A has 7 votes and takes the first place
A keeps five votes’ worth. Its surplus of two transfers to C, the next choice on those ballots.
A 5 · selectedB 3C 2 + 2 = 4 - 2
B is eliminated with the fewest votes
Its three ballots next prefer C. C rises from four votes to seven and takes the second place.
A SelectedB EliminatedC 4 + 3 = 7
A and C are selected. Some of A’s support helped choose the second winner.
Why transfer only the surplus?
Keeping all seven votes with A would leave its two surplus votes unable to help choose another winner. Transferring all seven would give those voters their full influence again after they had already secured a place. STV keeps the votes needed for A’s place and transfers the rest.
Here, each of A’s seven ballots keeps five sevenths of a vote with A and transfers two sevenths to its next available choice. Those transferred parts add up to two votes. If a ballot transfers again, only its remaining weight moves. It never becomes a new full vote.
Representing different preferences
STV aims to give groups a share of the winners, rather than letting the largest group choose every place. Once part of your vote has helped select an option, that part is no longer available to select another. Voters whose choices have not yet won keep more influence over the remaining places.
This assumes a fixed number of equal places. STV does not account for different project costs, different job requirements, or options that cannot be selected together. Those decisions need additional rules.
Host this vote
Enter more options than the number you want to select. Voters rank every option. The room uses a Droop quota and proportional surplus transfers, with a random priority announced before voting to resolve counting ties.
The quota is the number of ballots divided by one more than the number of places, rounded down, plus one. If the remaining options exactly fill the remaining places, they are selected without needing to reach that quota.