Example: Club Election
There are four candidates for president of a club: Candy (C), Emma (E), Lonnie (L), and Nguyen (N). The club needs to elect a president. The club has 37 voting members, and each member fills out a preference ballot listing the candidates in order of preference for president. Here are the ballots.
| Ranking | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | C | E | C | L | E | C | L | C | L | L |
| 2nd | E | N | E | E | N | E | E | E | E | N |
| 3rd | L | L | L | N | L | L | N | L | N | E |
| 4th | N | C | N | C | C | N | C | N | C | C |
| Ranking | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot |
| 1st | N | N | C | L | E | C | N | C | C | C |
| 2nd | L | L | E | E | N | E | L | E | E | E |
| 3rd | E | E | L | N | L | L | E | L | L | L |
| 4th | C | C | N | C | C | N | C | N | N | N |
| Ranking | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot |
| 1st | E | L | N | C | L | L | N | C | C | N |
| 2nd | N | E | L | E | E | E | L | E | E | L |
| 3rd | L | N | E | L | N | N | E | L | L | E |
| 4th | C | C | C | N | C | C | C | N | N | C |
| Ranking | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | Ballot | |||
| 1st | L | N | N | C | L | C | L | |||
| 2nd | E | L | L | E | E | E | E | |||
| 3rd | N | E | E | L | N | L | N | |||
| 4th | C | C | C | N | C | N | C |
Questions
- Just looking at the 1st place votes, did any candidate win the majority?
- Notice that many ballots are identical. What might be a way to better organize this data, so it is easier to analyze?
- Describe two different ways to determine who should be elected president?