Election notation

An election notation format is a standardized (or at least consistent) text format used to describe the ballots and the results of an election. The notation may also

List of formats

Below is a partial list of formats:

• ABIF ("Aggregated Ballot Information Format") — This is a format mostly derived from the 1996 format that became commonly used on the election-methods mailing list. It's designed to be easily aggregatable, since many .abif files can be concatenated and interoperable software should treat the aggregate work just as valid as the individual component files.
• Condorcet Election Format — A format originally proposed by Julien Boudry as part of the Condorcet PHP project.
• Election Markup Language — An XML format that was created by OASIS a couple of decades ago or so that (rumor has it) gets some use in Australia

Composite methods

Main article: Composite methods

"Composite methods" are methods that are constructed by creating serial chains of other methods (and using the latter methods as tiebreakers). Composite methods are often expressed as having the same name as the individual methods that make up the chain, separated by double-slashes ("//", as in "Smith//IRV") or sometimes with a comma.