This system encourages popularity over acceptability: any bloc of more than half the voters can elect a candidate regardless of the opinion of the rest of the voters. Candidates must also receive enough initial first-place votes to stay involved in the election, even if they have a large number of second- or third- place votes.
Each voter ranks all candidates in order of preference.
Top-preference votes are tallied. The candidate with the least support is eliminated, and their votes are reallocated to the next-highest ranked candidates on the eliminated ballots. After a candidate is eliminated, they may not receive any more votes.
This process is repeated until one candidate has received fifty percent of the votes cast.
Four candidates: Andrea, Brad, Carter, and Delilah.
12 voters rank the candidates:
8 voters rank the candidates:
4 voters rank the candidates:
1 voter ranked the candidats:
As none of the candidates have reached 50%, the lowest-ranked candidate, Brad, is eliminated. The one vote for him is transferred to Carter. The vote table now stands:
Andrea: 13 Carter: 9 Delilah: 4
Delilah is eliminated. The four votes she received are transferred to the next eligible candidate on the ballots that voted for her, Carter. (Brad has been eliminated.) Carter has now received 13 votes and he is elected.
Tactical voting is useless in IRV. If you vote for a candidate who does not have a good chance to win, you still get to express a preference between the most-popular candidates. No advantage is given to those voters who expressed their preference for a popular candidate earlier, rather than later.
See also: Runoff voting
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