Recommended Voting Methods

Below are our recommended voting methods for conducting your online elections.

Electing a Single Person

If you are electing a single person, we recommend that you use San Francisco RCV because this method guarantees majority support for the winner and the rules are clearly defined. This is the default if you do not enable expert mode. See our blog post about single-winner elections for more details.

With some exceptions:

• If there are only two candidates competing, you might as well use Plurality/FPTP/SNTV since ranked voting provides no advantage in this situation.
• If your voters are mathematically inclined, then consider Condorcet voting because it has some mathematical advantages but is more complicated to understand.
• If you have a small number of voters or a large number of candidates, then consider using the Borda count. See our blog post about when to use the Borda count.

Electing a Group of People

If you are electing a group of people, we recommend that you use Scottish STV because it provides proportional representation and it is easier for voters to understand than other STV methods. This is the default if you do not enable expert mode. See our blog post about multiple-winner elections for more details.

With some exceptions:

• If your voters are mathematically inclined, then consider Meek STV because it is more accurate in providing proportional representation but it is also more complicated to understand.
• In some situations, you don't want proportional representation, and if this is the case, you can implement a cascade waterfall election with RCV or use Plurality at Large/Block Voting/MNTV.