Single Transferable Vote

The Single Transferable Vote, or STV, is a preferential voting system designed to minimise wasted votes and provide proportional representation in multi-candidate elections while ensuring that votes are explicitly for candidates rather than party lists. STV systems achieve this by initially allocating an individual's vote to their most preferred candidate and then subsequently transferring unneeded or unused votes after candidates are either elected or eliminated according to the voter's stated preferences.

Related Topics:
Preferential - Voting system - Wasted vote - Proportional representation - Party list

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When promoted as a proportional representation method in multi-party multi-seat elections, STV methods are generally known as Proportional Representation through the Single Transferable Vote or PR-STV. In Australia, it is known as the Hare-Clark Proportional method, while the same system used federally with parties able to indicate preferences is called simply STV. In the United States, STV is sometimes called choice voting. When STV methods are applied to single-seat elections, they simplify to instant-runoff voting and have different proportionality implications for a similar ballot due to the existence of only one winner.

Related Topics:
Elections - Instant-runoff voting

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