[EM] ElectoramaWeekly for May 20 published; maybe looking more closely at software next week

[Richard]

On 5/20/26 23:45, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote:
 > What software is missing from that page?  Is there any software that
 > deserves to be highlighted by ElectoramaNews and/or
 > ElectoramaWeekly ...?

Missing from that list is the RCTabPlus software.

I wrote a summary of it in your March newsletter, but my description was 
removed before that newsletter was published.  Here's what I wrote:


RCTabPlus software was announced in a graphic titled Ranked Choice 
Voting Plus posted in r/EndFPTP. This open-source software is at: 
Github/CPSolver/RCTabPlus

RCTabPlus extends the RCTab election-grade software used by the RCVRC 
(Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center) when they assist a US 
jurisdiction with adopting ranked choice voting. RCTabPlus adds these 
two options to both single-winner (IRV) and multi-winner (STV) ranked 
choice voting:

     Overvote Rule: Count when single continuing

     Eliminate pairwise losing candidates

The better overvote rule dramatically reduces the need to teach voters 
to avoid overvotes (two or more marks in the same rank column).

The pairwise-losing-candidate elimination (which works in both STV and 
IRV elections) provides multiple benefits including: ensures majority 
support for the IRV winner, eliminates the center squeeze effect, 
dramatically reduces Condorcet failures, defeats political tactics that 
exploit vote splitting, and eliminates the need for a voter to consider 
whether their ballot will get stuck supporting their 
favorite-but-less-popular candidate while their second-favorite 
candidate gets eliminated.


 > ... deserves to be highlighted ... and if so, why?  ...

RCTabPlus is very important because it provides a direct path for 
building on the resources provided by the RCTab software, which is 
maintained by the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center.

This resource is essential because when a jurisdiction adopts "ranked 
choice voting" the state's or county's election-system vendor needs 
election-grade software against which they can test their election 
software (which is what's actually used in all US elections) to make 
sure it complies with the new law that a city council or state 
legislature passes.

Importantly, both RCTabPlus and RCTab read the official "cast vote 
record" data used in actual elections.  Also note the RCTabPlus and 
RCTab software includes real election data in formats recognized by 
election-system vendors.

If the RCTabPlus software had been available when Portland adopted 
ranked choice voting (IRV for mayor and STV for city council) it would 
have been possible to adopt the better overvote rule.  That refinement 
would have saved lots of money otherwise spent educating Portland voters 
not to mark more than one candidate in each "rank" column of ovals.

I believe this simple election-reform path is even simpler than adopting 
approval voting.

This "plus" version of ranked choice voting overcomes the only two 
meaningful criticisms of IRV from STAR voting fans.

And the elimination of pairwise losing candidates almost always elects 
the Condorcet winner.

Every jurisdiction considering adopting ranked choice voting should 
become aware of these two options that are now available as additions to 
RCVRC's election-grade RCTab software, which is used to validate real 
election software.

IMO the RCTabPlus election-grade software is very important!

Richard Fobes
The VoteFair guy



On 5/20/26 23:45, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> ElectoramaWeekly for May 20 has been published:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msq9aZA7VAI <https://www.youtube.com/ 
> watch?v=Msq9aZA7VAI>
> 
> In this week's episode, Taylor Eigen Fisher, Carlo Estefano, and I took 
> a closer look at Ohio SB395 (the bill proposing Condorcet elections in 
> Ohio), which you can read about on electowiki:
> https://electowiki.org/wiki/Ohio#SB395 <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ 
> Ohio#SB395>
> 
> A slightly overlapping group of folks also attended this month's 
> ElectoramaCall, where we discussed future work both on the 
> ElectoramaNews newsletter, and possible topics for ElectoramaWeekly 
> (e.g. folks for us to interview).  One thing we discussed in the latter 
> part of the call was possibly focusing on software (both on 
> ElectoramaWeekly and ElectoramaNews).  As a result, I've done a bit of 
> work on the "Software" page on electowiki:
> https://electowiki.org/wiki/Software <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Software>
> 
> What software is missing from that page?  Is there any software that 
> deserves to be highlighted by ElectoramaNews and/or ElectoramaWeekly 
> (and if so, why)?  Is software a good topic, or should we instead focus 
> on one of the other topics we discussed (e.g. the gutting of the Voting 
> Rights Act)?
> 
> Rob
> 
> ----
> Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em for list info