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The Plurality system and the Hare system are both voting techniques. Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages. If you are planning on holding a vote for something like new membership to a group, a school board... or anything else, this article should be able to help you decide on a voting style. Plurality is the most straightforward: Everybody votes for one person and the person with the most votes wins. For example if a group of friends were voting for favorite musical genres, the results might turn out like this: Rock – 1 Country – 1 Rap – 1 Punk – 2
In this case Punk would be the winner because it received the most votes.
Plurality also works with preference voting. Preference voting is when the voters list their favorites in order from best to worst. Using the same genres from above the preferences might look something like this:
Rank….Friend 1….Friend 2….Friend 3….Friend 4…Friend 5
1st……….Rock……. Country……. Rap……….Punk……..Punk
2nd……. Punk……….. Rap……. Country…….Rock ………Rap
3rd…….Country……..Rock……….Punk……….Rap…….Country
4th……….Rap………..Punk…………Rock…..Country…….Rock
Whichever is ranked 1st the most number of times is the winner. The Hare system works differently. The Hare system of voting has a transferable ballot with multiple rounds. The first round works just like plurality. However the candidate with the least amount of votes gets eliminated from the ballot and the next choice moves up. In the example below there are four voters, but they have different voting power. They are voting for a new pay raise out of three choices (A, B and C) The president gets 7 votes, the two chairmen each get 4 votes and the last person only gets one vote.
Rank…7….4….4….1 Votes
1st…….A….C….B…B
2nd……B….B…C…A
3rd…….C….A….A…C
The winner of the first round is A with 7 votes, B gets 5 votes and C gets 4 votes.
Now we move onto the second round and C is removed from the 1st rank. Everything below C moves up in rank so the table would now look like this:
Rank…..7….4….4….1 Votes
1st………A….B….B….B
2nd…….B….A….C…..A
3rd……..C……….A…..C
Now B is the new winner with 9 votes. The president of this company has been defeated by his panel because when A is removed from the 1st rank B gets all of the votes.
As you can see the voting system that is used can greatly affect the results of the election. Keep in mind that in both of the systems mentioned above the only votes that matter are in the 1st Rank.
In the following example seven people, each with one vote, are electing a new member to the voting panel. Each member is represented by the first letter of his or her name. See how the Plurality method and the Hare system change the outcome.
Rank….1….1….1….1….1….1….1 Votes
1st……..E…D….C…C….B…C….D
2nd……D….A….A….E….D…A….E
3rd…….A….E….E….D….A…E….A
4th…….C…C….B….A…..E…B…B
5th…….B….B…D….B….C…D…C
First we will do Plurality to find the winner. Look at who each person has ranked first. A gets no votes. B gets 1 vote. C gets 3 votes. D gets 2 votes. E gets 1 vote. With 3 votes C is the winner.
Next let’s look at the Hare system using the same data above. B and E are all removed from the 1st rank for having the least votes. A is not in the 1st rank, or it would have been removed as well.
Rank….1….1….1….1….1….1….1 Votes
1st……..D…D…C…C….D…C….D
2nd…….A….A…A….E….A….A….E
3rd……..C…E…E….D…E….E….A
4th……..B…C…B….A….C…B….B
5th…………..B…D….B………D….C
In this second round C is removed for having 3 votes. Now that D has 4 out of 7 votes it is impossible for another candidate to make a comeback and D is determined to be the winner.
