Legal Definitions - exhausted vote

An exhausted vote occurs in electoral systems, particularly those using preferential or ranked-choice voting, when a ballot can no longer be counted towards any active candidate. This happens because all the candidates the voter ranked have either been eliminated from the contest or have already been elected, and there are no further valid preferences left on that ballot to transfer.

• Example 1: Standard Ranked-Choice Election

  In a city council election using ranked-choice voting, a voter ranks Candidate A as their first choice, Candidate B as their second, and Candidate C as their third. They do not rank any other candidates on their ballot. If Candidate A is eliminated in the first round, the vote transfers to Candidate B. If Candidate B is then also eliminated in a subsequent round, the vote transfers to Candidate C. However, if Candidate C is also eliminated, and the voter did not rank any further candidates, this ballot becomes an exhausted vote because there are no more valid preferences to transfer to any remaining active candidates.

• Example 2: Voter's Limited Preferences

  During a primary election for a political party, members use a ranked-choice ballot to select their nominee. One member only ranks a single candidate, Candidate X, as their first and only preference, leaving the rest of the ballot blank. If Candidate X is eliminated in the initial round of counting because they received the fewest votes, this ballot immediately becomes an exhausted vote. Despite other candidates remaining in the race, the voter provided no further preferences, so their vote cannot be transferred to any other candidate.

• Example 3: Surplus Vote in a Multi-Seat System

  Consider an election for a university's student senate, where multiple seats are filled using a system that transfers surplus votes from winning candidates. A voter ranks Candidate P (first choice), Candidate Q (second choice), and Candidate R (third choice). Candidate P wins a seat with a large surplus of votes. The surplus portion of this voter's ballot is then transferred to their next preference, Candidate Q. However, if Candidate Q has already been elected to a seat, and Candidate R has been eliminated from the contest, this specific portion of the vote (the surplus from P) becomes an exhausted vote because there are no further valid preferences to transfer to an active, unelected candidate.