Tied at the top

The tied at the top rule for pairwise count methods says that when two candidates X and Y are ranked equal at the top of a ballot, both candidates are counted as receiving a vote for them against the other. Also, when pairwise wins (and not just "votes for") are determined, if adding the number of votes tying X and Y "tied at the top" to one side or the other can determine which candidate wins pairwise against the other, then this contest is interpreted to be a pairwise tie.

In some cases, use of the tied at the top rule can allow a method to satisfy the Favorite Betrayal Criterion (FBC). Kevin Venzke devised the rule to be used with Condorcet//Approval (yielding Improved Condorcet Approval) and Minmax (winning votes).