3.8 Instant Runoff Method

Instant-runoff voting (IRV), alternative vote (AV), or transferable vote is an electoral system used to elect a single winner from a field of more than two candidates.

• It is a preferential voting system in which voters rank the candidates in order of preference rather than voting for a single candidate. Ballots are initially distributed based on each elector’s first preference.

• If a candidate secures more than half of votes cast, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Ballots assigned to the eliminated candidate are recounted and assigned to those of the remaining candidates who rank next in order of preference on each ballot. This process continues until one candidate wins by obtaining more than half the votes.