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This makes a lot of sense as a system, but who came up with "instant runoff"? should be called "ranked voting"

xvedejas 8y ago
There are many kinds of voting which involve the voters ranking their choices. The difference is in how those choices are resolved. You can get very different election results depending on whether you do instant runoff voting, or use a condorcet method, or use borda count. They're all ranked voting, but they have very different properties.
- juancampa 8y ago
  Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize how nuanced it can be. For example, when using the Condorcet method there's a chance of not having a winner. From wikipedia[1]: > This is sometimes called a Condorcet cycle or just cycle and can be thought of as Candidate Rock beating Candidate Scissors, Candidate Scissors beating Candidate Paper, and Candidate Paper beating Candidate Rock. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method
chuckgreenman 8y ago
The first time I heard about it was called ranked voting, but instant run off is the more popular term. There are multiple rounds, where the least voted candidate is removed, so it makes sense.
pmyteh 8y ago
It's a kind of optimised variant of the 'runoff voting', where the election is rerun with one fewer candidate if noone gets a majority. That's where the name comes from. In these parts (the UK) the same system is known as the Alternative Vote (AV) which is just as meaningless a name. But in defence of my fellow political scientists, there are a lot of different voting systems, many of which have alternatives, rankings, and runoffs, so unambiguous and useful names are hard to find.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> This makes a lot of sense as a system, but who came up with "instant runoff"? should be called "ranked voting" “Ranked Choice Voting” is one of th names for the system, but since their are dozens (maybe hundreds) of voting systems which use identical ranked choice ballots with different resolution procedure, naming it “instant runoff” (since it uses ranked choice ballots to implement a variation of majority/runoff) is much more specific of name.
the_watcher 8y ago
Because runoffs already exist in a lot of places around the US, and IRV does accurately describe what happens if you are comparing it to a runoff election. I agree that "ranked voting" is a better term in a vacuum (and probably a better term regardless), but since there are more people in the US who have been exposed to runoff elections than ranked voting, I understand the choice.
jacques_chester 8y ago
In Australia it's called "preferential voting", since you are voting according to your order of preference. Each round of the count is typically described as "distributing preferences".

There are many kinds of voting which involve the voters ranking their choices. The difference is in how those choices are resolved. You can get very different election results depending on whether you do instant runoff voting, or use a condorcet method, or use borda count. They're all ranked voting, but they have very different properties.

juancampa 8y ago
Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize how nuanced it can be. For example, when using the Condorcet method there's a chance of not having a winner. From wikipedia[1]: > This is sometimes called a Condorcet cycle or just cycle and can be thought of as Candidate Rock beating Candidate Scissors, Candidate Scissors beating Candidate Paper, and Candidate Paper beating Candidate Rock. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method

chuckgreenman 8y ago

The first time I heard about it was called ranked voting, but instant run off is the more popular term. There are multiple rounds, where the least voted candidate is removed, so it makes sense.

pmyteh 8y ago

It's a kind of optimised variant of the 'runoff voting', where the election is rerun with one fewer candidate if noone gets a majority. That's where the name comes from. In these parts (the UK) the same system is known as the Alternative Vote (AV) which is just as meaningless a name. But in defence of my fellow political scientists, there are a lot of different voting systems, many of which have alternatives, rankings, and runoffs, so unambiguous and useful names are hard to find.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> This makes a lot of sense as a system, but who came up with "instant runoff"? should be called "ranked voting" “Ranked Choice Voting” is one of th names for the system, but since their are dozens (maybe hundreds) of voting systems which use identical ranked choice ballots with different resolution procedure, naming it “instant runoff” (since it uses ranked choice ballots to implement a variation of majority/runoff) is much more specific of name.

the_watcher 8y ago

Because runoffs already exist in a lot of places around the US, and IRV does accurately describe what happens if you are comparing it to a runoff election. I agree that "ranked voting" is a better term in a vacuum (and probably a better term regardless), but since there are more people in the US who have been exposed to runoff elections than ranked voting, I understand the choice.

jacques_chester 8y ago

In Australia it's called "preferential voting", since you are voting according to your order of preference. Each round of the count is typically described as "distributing preferences".