Does a first choice vote count twice as much as a second choice, or what?
A. Choice voting doesn’t work like that at all. Each voter has a single vote, and initially it only counts for the voter’s first choice, with nothing going to any of the later preferences. Only if that first-choice candidate has more than enough votes to win, or if that candidate has so little support that he or she gets defeated, can a ballot count towards the election of a later preference. A voter’s alternate rankings are a contingency vote to make sure a member’s vote isn’t wasted on a sure winner who has a surplus of votes, or a sure loser, who can’t possibly win.
