Favorite Ice Cream Flavor Election Results

Winner: Cookies and Cream

Rounds Slider

~ Find a Ranked Choice Voting Group in Your State ~
R1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9
Cookies and Cream10441081111917136161523819076266105371201572
Butter Pecan35013363143771339033939402841029439131570
Mint Chocolate Chip17422196102061922521246352812530664370-3700
Chocolate Brownie10413117121298137251621818029209-209000
Cookie Dough86389796131091812712139-13900000
Coffee841851297410112113-1130000000
Chocolate Peanut Butter84286793699-99000000000
Strawberry78381384-8400000000000
Salted Caramel75378-780000000000000
Rocky Road65-65000000000000000
 
Total120412031201119711931192119111801142
Inactive Ballots0.000001.000003.000007.0000011.0000012.0000013.0000024.0000062.00000
  • Use of mathematical tie-breaker formula - weights voter preferences from before rounds are calculated
  • Use of random tie-breaker – because mathematical tie-breaker formula resulted in a tie
1st ch2nd ch3rd ch4th ch5th ch6th ch7th ch8th ch9th ch10th ch
Butter Pecan3508962435152618584147
Mint Chocolate Chip17431212469635356546264
Rocky Road65111252102879793785543
Chocolate Brownie1041161592611048175475020
Salted Caramel75961051142178167827352
Strawberry78608610811019563717284
Cookie Dough86112991429991189523426
Cookies and Cream1041371231049991831704019
Chocolate Peanut Butter8477746278668910219765
Coffee8461585865615670127249
Total Choices1204117111421063973868832811794769

RCV123 on-line system handles ties among candidates facing elimination differently than any official RCV systems. (Other than tie-breaking, we use the WIGM RCV system that is the standard counting method.)

We vary from official RCV for tie-breaking because in elections with thousands or hundreds of thousands of voters, ties are very unlikely. But our mission is to make RCV helpful to anyone who wants to make a group decision – including smaller groups with perhaps only 25 voters in a classroom or small civic organization. In a small group election with five candidates and 20 voters, for example, there are very likely to be several ties as the rounds progress.

Official RCV uses random chance to settle any ties. We believe it would be unsatisfying for small voting groups to find that much of the outcome was determined by random chance.

So we developed a unique tie-breaking system that calculates a single number for each candidate based on their vote totals and the choice column they are in. The candidate with the highest tie-breaking number wins that tie. If that tie-breaker number winds up in a tie, then RCV123 resorts to random chance.

Each first-choice vote is worth 100, and each subsequent choice is worth 2/3 (.67) of the previous choice on a ballot. Then all the votes and weighting for each candidate in each column are totaled to determine an overall tie-breaker number. So in our method, for example, three 2nd place votes are worth very slightly more than two 1st place votes. But it would take 37 10th place votes to have the same weight as one 1st place vote.

Our tie-breaking method looks at all choice data from every ballot. This is different from the rounds of counting - which only looks at the data from each round as it is calculated. For example, in actual rounds of counting, a candidate with zero first-choice votes will be eliminated right away, and any 2nd or 5th or 10th place votes they may have does not matter at all.

If two candidates facing elimination have a tie, and have identical tie-breaker numbers, then RCV123 will use random chance to decide. We create a grid of randomly decided, head-to-head tie-breaking match-ups for each combination of candidates. That grid can be found on the results page of any election.

The use of the mathematical tie breakers will be noted in election results with a blue rectangle over vote totals in that round for the candidates involved. The use of the last-resort, random tie breaker will be noted by the color green.

We believe our tie-breaking system is a good compromise between not weighting the choice column of votes at all, and excessively weighting one choice column vs. another immediately adjacent.

This table shows the primary tie-breaker calculation. It starts with the raw ballot data from before any rounds were tabulated.

The total of all voter 1st choices for a candidate is multiplied by 100. Each successive set of total choices for a candidate ( 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc.) is assigned 2/3 (.67) of the weight given to the previous column of choice totals. Then all the columns are added together to arrive at a tie-breaker number for each candidate.

1st chx 1.002nd chx 0.673rd chx 0.454th chx 0.305th chx 0.206th chx 0.147th chx 0.098th chx 0.069th chx 0.0410th chx 0.03Candidate Tie-Breaker Number
Butter Pecan350350.008959.636227.834312.935110.28527.02615.52855.15843.411474.00485.77
Mint Chocolate Chip174174.00312209.0412455.666920.756312.69537.16565.07543.27622.52641.74491.90
Rocky Road6565.0011174.37252113.1210230.688717.539713.10938.41784.73552.23431.17330.34
Chocolate Brownie104104.0011677.7215971.3826178.5010420.968110.94756.78472.85502.03200.54375.69
Salted Caramel7575.009664.3210547.1311434.2921743.738110.94676.06824.97732.96521.41290.81
Strawberry7878.006040.208638.6110832.4811022.1719526.33635.70714.30722.92842.28252.99
Cookie Dough8686.0011275.049944.4414242.719919.959112.2918917.10523.15341.38260.71302.76
Cookies and Cream104104.0013791.7912355.2110431.289919.959112.29837.5117010.30401.62190.52334.47
Chocolate Peanut Butter8484.007751.597433.226218.657815.72668.91898.051026.181978.00651.77236.08
Coffee8484.006140.875826.045817.446513.10618.24565.07704.241275.162496.77210.92
Total Choices1204117111421063973868832811794769

In the event our primary tie-breaking system can’t settle a tie among candidates with exactly the same number of votes and set of choice preferences, we have the computer generate a random list of all candidates. That order determines who will win any ties of the primary system.

Order
Butter Pecan10
Mint Chocolate Chip8
Rocky Road9
Chocolate Brownie5
Salted Caramel4
Strawberry7
Cookie Dough1
Cookies and Cream2
Chocolate Peanut Butter6
Coffee3