Civic · 6 pages · 12 min
Why the exhausted ballot is a real thing
An exhausted ballot has no remaining ranked candidate left, so it stops counting.
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From the opening
An exhausted ballot is a ranked ballot whose marked candidates have all been eliminated, leaving no next choice to receive it. It drops out of the continuing count, so later rounds are decided only by ballots that still name someone in the race. The opening covers no next rank remains, the ballot leaves later rounds, and the majority base can shrink.
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Inside
- No next rank remains
- The ballot leaves later rounds
- The majority base can shrink
- Blank rankings cause the stop
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Ballot exhaustion in instant runoff
- Continuing ballots versus ballots cast