Preferential voting explained

Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems:

• Any electoral system which allows voters to indicate multiple preferences (any system other than plurality or anti-plurality)
  • Optional preferential voting
• Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of preference (American literature)
  • Instant-runoff voting and single transferable vote, referred to as "preferential voting" in Australia by way of conflation
  • Bucklin voting, similarly conflated during the Progressive Era
• Open list representation, where "preference votes" are used to express preference for individual candidates instead of party lists.

See also

• Electoral system
• Social choice theory
• Weighted voting
• Rated voting