Single Transferable Vote (or STV) is a fair way to choose winners when there are many people and many choices, like picking your favorite ice cream flavor in a big group.
Imagine you're at an ice cream shop with 10 friends, and you all get to pick your favorite flavor. But instead of just choosing one, you can rank them from 1st to 5th place, like saying "Vanilla is my first choice, Chocolate is second, and I don't mind Sprinkles at all."
Now, the shopkeeper counts everyone's votes. If a flavor gets enough top picks, it wins, like getting a gold star. But if no one gets enough votes right away, the least popular flavor gets its votes passed on to someone else, just like passing a toy around when you're done with it.
This keeps going until all the winners are picked, and everyone’s vote helps choose the best flavors together, instead of just picking one person's favorite. It’s like sharing ice cream, fair for everyone!
Examples
- A school election where students can vote for their favorite candidates, and if no one gets a majority, the votes are redistributed.
- Imagine choosing your favorite pizza toppings, but you can pick more than one, and if your first choice is out, your second choice still counts.
- In a small town council vote, voters rank their preferences, and seats are filled based on how many people support each candidate.
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See also
- What is Proportional representation (PR)?
- How does Single Transferable Vote work?
- What are voting rules?
- What is Single transferable voting (STV)?
- What is first-past-the-post?