Alaska 2022 special (reduced model), ranked ballots — RCV-IRV with all three candidates: Peltola wins¶
Generated from alaska_2022_irv_with_palin.yaml — do not edit by hand. Regenerate: python STARVote_LH_tabulation_engine/tools_adam/scripts/build_yaml_pages.py.
Method: RCV-IRV (Instant Runoff) · 1 seat · Expected winner: Peltola
Scenario¶
The IIA / spoiler baseline. This is the SAME 200-voter reduced model of the August 2022 Alaska US House special election as the STAR case in this folder (bv2213_k3fmwv_alaska_2022.yaml), written as the ranked profile it came from — the nine ballot types of Table 1 in Graham-Squire & McCune, "An Examination of Ranked Choice Voting in the United States, 2004-2022" (arXiv:2301.12075), scaled ~943:1. Nothing is added: the score file's 5/4/3 levels ARE these rankings. First choices: Peltola 80, Palin 63, Begich 57. RCV-IRV eliminates Begich, 12 ballots exhaust, and Peltola beats Palin 96-92. Winner: Peltola. Its twin — alaska_2022_irv_without_palin.yaml — deletes Palin from every ballot and changes nothing else. Begich then wins 93-84. Palin lost, and her presence decided who won: an Independence-of-Irrelevant-Alternatives failure on a real federal race, which is the claim-check behind method_comparisons/fairvote_comparison_table/README.md. Lesson: ../README.md
Ballots¶
Each row is one voter's ranking, most-preferred first (N: prefix = N identical ballots).
50:Peltola>Begich
36:Palin>Begich
29:Begich>Palin
25:Peltola
23:Palin
16:Begich>Peltola
12:Begich
5:Peltola>Palin
4:Palin>Peltola>Begich
What the engine says¶
The count, step by step — the rounds and how the winner is reached:
--- RCV / Instant-Runoff Voting (single winner) ---
Alaska 2022 special (reduced model), ranked ballots — RCV-IRV with all three candidates: Peltola wins
Tabulating 200 ballots (ranked ballots).
ROUND 1
Candidate Votes Status
----------- ------- --------
Peltola 80 Hopeful
Palin 63 Hopeful
Begich 57 Rejected
FINAL RESULT
Candidate Votes Status
----------- ------- --------
Peltola 96 Elected
Palin 92 Rejected
Begich 0 Rejected
Blank Votes 12 Rejected
Winner(s) — RCV / Instant-Runoff Voting (single winner)
Peltola
--- Transfers and inactive ballots (what the round tables leave out) ---
The tables above give each candidate's round total but not where a
transferred vote came FROM, nor how many ballots stopped counting.
Both are recomputed from the ballots, using the eliminations the
count above actually made.
ROUND 1 — 200 of 200 ballots still active; majority = 101
Begich eliminated with 57:
→ Palin 29
→ Peltola 16
→ (no continuing ranking) 12 ← these ballots go inactive
FINAL ROUND — 188 of 200 ballots still active (12 inactive); majority = 95
Peltola 96 (51.1% of the still-active) ← elected
Palin 92 (48.9% of the still-active)
Never exhausted, never transferred:
40 ballots held by Palin carried a lower ranking that was never read
(the count stopped here, so those preferences did nothing).
Inactive ballots at the final round: 12 of 200 (6.0%).
Peltola's 96 is a majority of the 188 still active but only 48.0% of all 200 cast —
the 'majority' here is of a shrunken denominator. See
06_Other/RCV_IRV/concepts/RCV_IRV_exhausted_ballots.md
Full audit — preference matrix, Condorcet, and score distribution¶
--- Smith Set (the generalized Condorcet winner) ---
The smallest group whose every member beats every candidate outside it —
the honest answer to "who is even in contention?".
Smith set (1 of 3): Begich
Outside (2): Peltola, Palin
One member ⇒ Begich is the Condorcet winner, beating every rival head-to-head.
RCV-IRV winner Peltola is OUTSIDE the Smith set. ✗
Every member of the set (Begich) beats Peltola head-to-head, yet
RCV-IRV elected Peltola anyway. RCV-IRV is not Smith-efficient (nor
Condorcet-efficient) — this is the shape a center squeeze leaves behind.
More: 07_Concepts/topics/smith_set.md
Everything in one file: the _tabulated mirror (regenerated on every run; every analysis forced on).
Run it yourself:
python STARVote_LH_tabulation_engine/starvote_larry_hastings.py method_comparisons/alaska_2022/cases/alaska_2022_irv_with_palin.yaml
See also¶
More cases in this set: alaska_2022_irv_without_palin · bv2213_k3fmwv_alaska_2022