Instant-runoff voting (IRV)

• voting system used for single-winner elections in which voters have one vote, but can rank candidates in order of preference

• in an IRV election,  if no candidate receives a majority of first choices

        - the candidate with the fewest number of votes is eliminated
        - ballots cast for that candidate are redistributed to the surviving
candidates according to the voters' indicated preference

• this process is repeated until one candidate obtains a majority

• the term 'instant runoff voting' is used because this process simulates a series of run-off elections

• Instant-runoff voting is slightly more complicated than single transferable voting

• in reality IRV is more time-consuming and expen$ive