14.1 Voting Methods 899 Recall, a majority refers to receiving more than 50% of the votes. If a candidate has a majority of votes, they will win an election using the plurality method. However, it is possible for a candidate to win an election using the plurality method without the candidate having a majority of votes, as we will see in the next example. PLURALITY METHOD 1. Each voter votes for one candidate. 2. The candidate receiving the most votes is declared the winner. PROCEDURE Example 3 Selecting a Zoo Logo Using the Plurality Method Consider the zoo logo election given in Example 1. Which animal is selected using the plurality method? Solution Using the plurality method, the animal with the most votes is selected for the logo. In Example 1, the planning committee members ranked the animals. We will assume that each planning committee member would vote for the animal they listed first in Table 14.2. From Table 14.2, we see that the tiger received 2 3 5 votes, + = the kangaroo received 1 3 4 votes, + = and the giraffe received 5 1 6 votes. + = These results indicate that by using the plurality method, the giraffe is chosen as the animal for the zoo logo. Note that the giraffe received only , 6 15 or 40%, of the first-place votes, which is less than a majority. 7 Now try Exercise 17 Example 4 Electing the Veterans Club President by the Plurality Method Consider the Veterans Club election given in Example 2. Who is elected president using the plurality method? Solution We will assume that each member would vote for the person they listed in first place in Table 14.3. From Table 14.3, we can see that Antoine received 7 votes, Betty received 19 votes, Carlos received 15 2 17 votes, + = and Don received 11 votes. Therefore, using the plurality method, Betty received the most votes and is elected president of the Veterans Club. Note that Betty received only , 19 54 or about 35%, of the first-place votes, which is less than a majority. 7 Now try Exercise 27 As simple as the plurality method is, this voting method ignores voters’ second and subsequent choices. The rest of the voting methods we will discuss take all voters’ choices into consideration. Borda Count Method The Borda count method, named for Jean-Charles de Borda, requires that voters rank candidates in order from most favorable to least favorable. The Borda count method then quantifies this ranking to determine a winner. BORDA COUNT METHOD 1. Voters rank the candidates from the most favorable to the least favorable. 2. Each last-place vote is awarded one point, each next-to-last-place vote is awarded two points, each third-from-last-place vote is awarded three points, and so forth. 3. The candidate receiving the most points is the winner of the election. PROCEDURE Plurality Presidents Although it may seem unusual, the United States has often elected presidents who were opposed by a majority of those voting. As of this writing, 19 of the 58 presidential elections have resulted in winners with less than 50% of the popular votes. James Polk (1844), Zachary Taylor (1848), James Buchanan (1856), Abraham Lincoln (1860), James Garfield (1880), Grover Cleveland (1884 and 1892), Woodrow Wilson (1912 and 1916), Harry Truman (1948), John Kennedy (1960), Richard Nixon (1968), and Bill Clinton (1992 and 1996) all won the presidential election with less than 50% of the popular votes. Although each of these presidents failed to get a majority of popular votes, each did obtain a plurality of popular votes and a majority of the electoral votes. Even stranger presidential elections have occurred in which the winner actually received fewer popular votes than the runner-up. Rutherford Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), George W. Bush (2000), and Donald Trump (2016) all received a majority of electoral votes while receiving a lower percentage of the popular votes than the loser of the election. But perhaps the strangest presidential election occurred in 1824. John Quincy Adams was second in both popular votes and electoral votes to Andrew Jackson. However, since Jackson did not have a majority of electoral votes, the election went to the House of Representatives, who chose Adams over Jackson. Did You Know Studio Romantic/Shutterstock
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