The preferential ballot system is designed to enhance the probability that a winning candidate will have widespread support without the necessity of a run-off election, in the event no candidate has a majority of the votes on a first ballot. We will vote by electronic ballot, following the precedent set in our college and university elections over the past year.
In voting for each office, you will be asked to rank the candidates in order of preference, with a 1 for your first choice, a 2 for your second choice, and so on. You need not rank all candidates; you may assign ranks to just one or to as many candidates as you like. Your vote will always stay with your highest-ranking candidate until or unless that person is eliminated in a series of rounds as described below.
Votes are tallied in a number of rounds. In the first round, each vote is assigned to the candidate recorded as the voter's first choice. If one person has a majority of the first-place votes (more than half of those cast), that person is the winner. Whether we have a winner or not in the first round, candidates receiving no first-place votes are eliminated from contention (save for one possible exception as described below).
If we do not have a winner in the first round, then we proceed to a second round, in which that candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated and those votes are assigned to the voter's second choice. (If the voter's second choice has already been eliminated, then that vote is assigned to the voter's third choice, etc.) The totals are now recalculated. If one candidate now has a majority of the votes, we have a winner. If not we proceed to further rounds, in each case eliminating that remaining candidate with the fewest votes and reassigning those votes to the voter's highest ranking preference among those still in the running. If when a candidate is eliminated, a voter's ballot does not rank any of the remaining candidates, that ballot is set aside and has no further bearing on the outcome for that office.
We proceed until all candidates except one are eliminated. That person is the winner. Where we are electing more than one person to an office we proceed with the process until we have just that specified number of remaining candidates.
If we have a tie for the winner, the candidate among those tied who has the most first-place votes is the winner. If still tied, the one with the most first or second place votes is the winner. And so on to first, second, third, or nth place votes. If we still have a tie, the winner will be chosen by lot from among the tied candidates.
If at any stage in the process up to the final round more than one candidate is tied for the fewest number of votes, then all such candidates are eliminated and their votes are assigned to the voter's highest preference among remaining candidates.
Where we are electing a member and an alternate, then the alternate will be the second to last remaining candidate in the process. Where we are electing two people, one to a longer term and one to a shorter term, then the winner (the last remaining candidate) will receive the longer term.
For the Promotions Committee, if the final round of the process yields two associate professors from any division, in a case where that division has two openings, then the associate professor candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and is replaced by that professor who has been a remaining candidate in the latest prior round. If the process yields a committee with one associate professor from each division, including continuing members, then that associate professor candidate with the lowest total number of votes is eliminated and is replaced in that division by that professor who has been a remaining candidate in the latest prior round.
The preferential voting and counting rules as stated above are based
on those described in Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 10th edition,
2000, Section 45 (Voting Procedure), but they have been modified or extended
to reflect the idiosyncrasies of our A&S elections.
College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Elections Committee