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General Vocabulary

  • Social choice theory: the study of making decisions from collective input.
  • Bullet vote: casting a vote for a single candidate.
  • Ranked choice voting: the act of electing candidates using rankings instead of bullet votes.
  • Linear ranking: an ordering of the candidates \(A>C>B\) by your preference for each. \(A>C\) means you prefer \(A\) to \(C\).
  • Ballot: the information gathered from a voter, usually a ranking, but could be points as well.
  • Preference profile: a collection of ballots from voters. Note, this is not the same as an election.
  • Election: a choice of rules for converting a preference profile into an outcome.
  • Ballot generator: a method for creating ballots.
  • Bloc: a group of voters who share some similar voting patterns.
  • CVR: cast vote record, i.e., the collection of ballots.
  • BLT: a file type used to record CVRs in Scottish elections.