Proposed Statutory Rules for DMC: Difference between revisions

Each ballot shall list all qualified candidates for the office, and the voter shall be allowed to write in one additional candidate. On the ballot, the voter shall be allowed to rank candidates in order of preference. A voter may also rank two or more candidates equally or, leave some candidates unranked, or use ranks non-consecutively. The number of ranks shall be sufficient for a voter to express separate rank for each qualified and write-in candidate. Leaving a candidate unranked will be considered equivalent to giving that candidate the lowest possible rank. A ballot ranking one candidate higher than another shall be counted as a vote cast for the higher-ranked candidate in the ''pairwise'', or one-on-one, contest between those two candidates. A ballot ranking two candidates equally casts no vote for either candidate in their pairwise contest.

# A candidate X has a ''pairwise win'' over candidate Y, and Y suffers a ''pairwise defeat'' by X, when X defeats Y in the pairwise contest between X and Y. A qualified or write-in candidate X is called the ''Instant Round Robin winner'' when X is not pairwise defeated by any other candidate. If there is an Instant Round Robin winner, then that candidate wins the election. A ''majority winner'' is a qualified or write-in candidate such that, on a majority of the valid ballots, this candidate is ranked above every other qualified or write-in candidate. The majority winner, if it exists, will always also be the Instant Round Robin winner.

# Suppose there is no Instant Round Robin winner. A candidate is ''definitively defeated'' if that candidate suffers a pairwise defeat from any other higher-approved candidate. When no Instant Round Robin winner exists, each candidate suffers at least one pairwise defeat from another candidate, and the least-approved candidate must therefore be definitively defeated. A candidate is ''eliminated'' from the race when that candidate is removed from the set of candidates eligible to win the election. The ''Definitive Majority Choice winner'' is that candidate who, after elimination of the least-approved candidate, is the Instant Round Robin winner among all candidates remaining. While there is no Definitive Majority Choice winner, the least-approved remaining candidate is eliminated from the race. As soon as a Definitive Majority Choice winner is created, that candidate wins the election. The majority winner or the Instant Round Robin winner, if either exists, will also always be the Definitive Majority Choice winner.

# Suppose that there is no Instant Round Robin winner,; that thean elimination stage of determining the Definitive Majority Choice winner cannot take place because two or more candidates are tied for lowest approval rating,; and there is no way to resolvethat the approval rating tie cannot be resolved using thestandard usualelection methodsrecount forprocedures resolving--- ties. Forfor example, some or all candidates may have received unanimous 100% approval or 0% approval. Then the approval tie will be resolved in favor of the candidate with the highest number of,

## If equalOtherwise, totaleliminate ballots ranking thatthe candidate in first,with secondthe andlowest thirdnumber place.of

## If equal,# total ballots ranking that candidate abovein first or lastsecond place.

### If equal, total ballots ranking that candidate in first, second or third place.