Talk:Anti-Harassment Tools/SecurePoll Improvements/Understanding the STV result

Resolved

@4nn1l2 I think I did the calculations right. The "2nd preference" votes for the candidates will be taken into account in the second round. Are you and I both looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote#Example?

@NKohli (WMF) Please, could you take me more seriously? You can count this simple election with SecurePoll or OpaVote, and see the results (I did that myself and Charlie is the 2nd winner. I just sent you the result page . Check your email please). I'm just trying to help.

@4nn1l2 Oh I am so sorry, I was working with a different example before and messed up the calculations. You are absolutely correct. I have reverted my edit back to yours. Don't worry - we have implemented it correctly. It was my fault for mixing up two different examples. Sorry again.

I will probably rework this example a bit more to show one with 2 or more rounds of calculations so it is more apparent to voters how the calculation happens. I'm writing this page in case someone who is voting wants to understand what's under the hood.

Thanks again for all your help. :)

@4nn1l2 Okay I reworked the page to use another election. Following your example, I used OpaVote to check the result. If you have a few minutes I would also like your opinion. It's meant to be simple enough for anyone to be able to understand what's going on.

@NKohli (WMF) Since you are using a simplified example for the general reader and not using the real Meek method which requires the calculation of keep factors and such, you should also use a simpler method of STV when counting the votes. I edited the page to show the Scottish STV.

I also suggest to make a small change to the vote profiles (specifically Voter 6) to illustrate how ballots may be exhausted. We can remove Dave as their 3rd preference, so that in the 4th round, 0.25 of Bob's votes gets exhausted and Charlie's vote reaches 3.75 (In other words, some part of Voter 6's vote gets exhausted and they are not using the full power of their vote).

@4nn1l2 If voter 6 does not have a third preference, then shouldn't a third of Bob's votes get exhausted? Since Voters 4, 5 and 6 each have a share of the votes in there?

@NKohli (WMF) No, in this case only a quarter of the vote by Voter 6 gets exhausted.

File:Scottish STV, MediaWiki SecurePoll example.svg should explain how the votes transfer and get exhausted. Please pay attention to the small numbers next to candidates and see the fraction ¼ by Voter 6 which turns into white color in the last count. Only that fraction gets exhausted (wasted), other votes get counted and make an effect.

Thanks for the help @4nn1l2!