If no candidates, or an insufficient number of candidates,
obtain a winning number of votes to be elected, then in
order to fill those remaining seat(s), votes shall be transferred
as follows:
a. Transfer of surplus votes shall commence with the
candidate having the largest surplus. A portion of that
candidate’s surplus votes shall be transferred to
the next candidate choice of those voters who elected
him/her. The portion of the surplus distributable to the
next candidate choice shall be that amount determined
by dividing the transferring candidate’s surplus
amount by the total number of votes received by that candidate.
(For example, if the candidate received 1000 votes and
the threshold was 900 votes, then s/he had a surplus of
100 votes. Therefore 0.10 (100/1000) of a vote from each
of those 1,000 ballots is transferred to those voters’
next choices.) Votes may not be transferred to candidates
who have already been elected (nor may votes be transferred
to candidates who have been eliminated as set forth below.)
When a voter’s next choice is not eligible for receipt
of transferred votes, that portion of a vote shall be
transferred to that voter’s next indicated choice
unless all choices on that ballot have been exhausted.
If all choices on that ballot have been exhausted, that
portion of a vote shall be transferred to a special “exhausted
vote” tally. After the transfer of all that candidate’s
surplus votes, a tally shall be taken.
b. If said tally does not result in a sufficient number
of winning candidates to fill the remaining seats and
if the previous transfer of surplus votes creates a new
surplus, then surplus votes of the candidate then having
the largest surplus shall be transferred to those voters’
next choices, consistent with subsection (a) above, until
all said candidate’s surplus has been transferred
or all declared choices on a ballot have been exhausted.
c. After each distribution of a candidate’s surplus,
a tally shall be taken to determine the winning candidate(s).
This process of distributing surplus votes shall continue
until all open seats are filled, until all surplus votes
have been transferred or until ballot choices have been
exhausted.
d. If, after all surplus votes have been distributed
in the manner described above, there remain unfilled seats,
the candidate with the least number of votes shall be
eliminated and his/her votes at their current value shall
be transferred to those voters’ next choice candidates
who have not been previously declared elected or eliminated.
The order in which candidates are eliminated shall be
recorded as their ranking (highest rank given to the last
eliminated, lowest rank given to the first eliminated).
If there is a tie as to the candidate with the least number
of votes, the candidate to be first eliminated shall be
decided by drawing straws. Once all of that eliminated
candidate’s votes have been transferred, a new tally
shall be taken to determine new winning candidates, if
any. If there are no new winning candidates, then the
candidate remaining with the least number of votes shall
be eliminated and his/her votes at their current value
shall be transferred, as above, until there are one or
more new winning candidates. The new winning candidate(s)
surplus votes shall then be distributed as in (a) through
(c) above.
e. If, at any point when eliminating candidates under
point (d) above, it can be determined that the elimination
of more than one candidate is mathematically inevitable,
then all such candidates may be eliminated at the same
time. Elimination of multiple candidates is mathematically
inevitable when:
i. The number of unelected candidates remaining after
the elimination is equal to or greater than the number
of unfilled seats; and
ii. The total of all votes allocated to the candidates
in question is less than the total number of votes of
the candidate with the next higher vote count.
f. This process of distributing surplus votes of winning
candidates and eliminating losing candidates, as described
in (b) through (e) above, shall be repeated until all
seats have been filled, or until the number of unfilled
seats equals the number of continuing candidates. In the
latter case, all remaining continuing candidates are declared
elected.
