Coombs' method

The Coombs' method, also called the Coombs rule^[1] is a voting system created by Clyde Coombs used for single-winner elections in which each voter rank-orders the candidates. It is very similar to instant-runoff voting (also known as preferential voting or the Alternative Vote).

Procedures

Each voter rank-orders all of the candidates on their ballot. If at any time one candidate is ranked first (among non-eliminated candidates) by an absolute majority of the voters, then this is the winner. As long as this is not the case, the candidate which is ranked last (again among non-eliminated candidates) by the most (or a plurality of) voters is eliminated. (Conversely, in Instant Runoff Voting the candidate ranked first (among non-eliminated candidates) by the least amount of voters is eliminated.)

An example

Imagine that Tennessee is having an election on the location of its capital. The population of Tennessee is concentrated around its four major cities, which are spread throughout the state. For this example, suppose that the entire electorate lives in these four cities, and that everyone wants to live as near the capital as possible.

The candidates for the capital are:

• Memphis, the state's largest city, with 42% of the voters, but located far from the other cities
• Nashville, with 26% of the voters, near the center of Tennessee
• Knoxville, with 17% of the voters
• Chattanooga, with 15% of the voters

The preferences of the voters would be divided like this:

Assuming all of the voters vote sincerely (strategic voting is discussed below), the results would be as follows, by percentage:

• In the first round, no candidate has an absolute majority of first place votes (51).
• Memphis, having the most last place votes (26+15+17=58), is therefore eliminated.
• In the second round, Memphis is out of the running, and so must be factored out. Memphis was ranked first on Group A's ballots, so the second choice of Group A, Nashville, gets an additional 42 first place votes, giving it an absolute majority of first place votes (68 versus 15+17=32) thus making it the winner. Note that the last place votes are disregarded in the final round.

Note that although Coomb's method chose the Condorcet winner here, this is not necessarily the case.

Potential for strategic voting

The Coombs' method is vulnerable to three strategies:^{[citation needed]} compromising, push-over and teaming.

See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics

Notes

1. ^ Grofman, Bernard, and Scott L. Feld (2004) "If you like the alternative vote (a.k.a. the instant runoff), then you ought to know about the Coombs rule," Electoral Studies 23:641-59.

External links

• Condorcet.org EMR: Coombs' method