Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Definition: Low-total voting is a system of weighted preferential voting where the most-preferred candidate wins by having the lowest total. Each voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, and their votes are added up based on the ranking. The candidate with the lowest total wins.
Example: In a school election, there are three candidates: John, Sarah, and Mike. There are 100 voters, and each voter ranks the candidates in order of preference. John is ranked first by 40 voters, Sarah is ranked first by 35 voters, and Mike is ranked first by 25 voters. In the first round of counting, John has 40 points, Sarah has 35 points, and Mike has 25 points. Since Mike has the highest total, he is eliminated. In the second round, the votes for Mike are redistributed based on the second choice of each voter. John gets 10 more points, and Sarah gets 15 more points. In the final count, John has 50 points, and Sarah has 50 points. Since John has the lowest total, he wins the election.
This example illustrates how low-total voting works. The candidate with the lowest total wins, which means that the most-preferred candidate is the winner. This system encourages voters to rank their choices in order of preference, which can lead to a more representative outcome.