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Equal ranks — 38 of 74 rally to Alice, and consecutive scores elect her

▶ Live on BetterVoting: vote · results ↗ (election j9wvv4 · test BV2297) — an independent tabulator to check the winners below against.

Bucket — CYCLE_OR_THREE_WAY: Cycle / three-way split

Generated by STARVote_LH_tabulation_engine/tools_adam/scripts/build_divergence_index.py — rebuilt from the election file; do not hand-edit.

What happens

There is no Condorcet winner — the head-to-head results form a cycle (X beats Y beats Z beats X). With no pairwise anchor the methods split: STAR=Alice, RCV-IRV=Alice, Ranked Robin=Delia (RR breaks the cycle by total margin). No rule is clearly 'right'; a genuinely hard election, not an indictment of any one method.

Winners by method

Method Winner
STAR Alice
RCV-IRV Alice
Ranked Robin (RCV-RR) Delia
Approval Alice
Range / Score Alice
Condorcet none (cycle)

Flags: 74 tied-score ballot(s); IRV winner flips under reversed priority (fragile tie); RR conversion-sensitive (weak=Delia, strict=Alice)

Source election: method_comparisons/equal_rank_irv/cases/equal_rank_cohesive_consecutive.yaml · STAR tabulated mirror: equal_rank_cohesive_consecutive_tabulated.txt

4 candidates, 74 ballots.

The ballots

Each row is a group of identical score ballots (0 = no support, 5 = max).

Count Alice Bilal Cato Delia
18 5 5 5 4
10 5 5 3 4
10 5 3 5 4
16 4 5 5 5
20 4 4 4 5

STAR result (official)

Scoring round (sum of scores): Alice 334, Delia 332, Bilal 330, Cato 330

Finalists (top two): Alice and Delia

Automatic runoff: Alice 38 vs Delia 36

STAR winner: Alice

Full LH STAR engine report:

--- Runoff (Preference) Matrix ---
Head-to-head / pairwise comparison
Legend: For - Equal Support - Against
        * indicates Top 2 Finalist
                 |   * Alice    |  * Delia    |
-----------------------------------------------
       * Alice > |     ---      |38 -  0 - 36 |
       * Delia > | 36 -  0 - 38 |    ---      |

[Divergence from STAR]
  STAR   = Alice
  RCV-RR = Delia   (differs from STAR)

--- STAR Voting Method (single winner) ---
 Tabulating 74 ballots.
Count × Alice,Bilal,Cato,Delia
   20 ×     4,    4,   4,    5
   18 ×     5,    5,   5,    4
   16 ×     4,    5,   5,    5
   10 ×     5,    5,   3,    4
   10 ×     5,    3,   5,    4

[Score Distribution] (how many ballots gave each star rating)
                   Score
Candidate   5   4   3   2   1   0  | Total   Avg
Alice      38  36   0   0   0   0  |   334   4.5
Bilal      44  20  10   0   0   0  |   330   4.5
Cato       44  20  10   0   0   0  |   330   4.5
Delia      36  38   0   0   0   0  |   332   4.5

Scoring Round
 The two highest-scoring candidates advance to the next round.
   Alice         -- 334 -- First place
   Delia         -- 332 -- Second place
   Bilal         -- 330
   Cato          -- 330
 Alice and Delia advance.

Automatic Runoff Round
 The candidate preferred in the most head-to-head matchups wins.
   Alice         -- 38 -- First place
   Delia         -- 36
   Equal Support --  0
 Alice wins.
   Voters with a preference: 74 of 74 (no Equal Support).
   Alice 38 (51%) vs Delia 36 (49%); majority = 38.

Winner — STAR Voting Method (single winner)
 Alice

RCV-IRV — round by round

⚠️ This election has a fragile IRV tie (equal scores force an arbitrary tie-break). The round table below is only one realization; a different tie-break can change the winner. See the flag above.

--- RCV / Instant-Runoff Voting (single winner) ---
 Tabulating 74 ballots (converted from score ballots; 0 = unranked, equal scores broken by candidate priority).

Ballots:
   the ranking RCV-IRV reads (0 = unranked, equal scores broken by priority);
   the source score ballot follows in () per column: Alice, Bilal, Cato, Delia
    18 ×   Alice > Bilal > Cato > Delia      (5, 5, 5, 4)
    10 ×   Alice > Bilal > Delia > Cato      (5, 5, 3, 4)
    10 ×   Alice > Cato > Delia > Bilal      (5, 3, 5, 4)
    16 ×   Bilal > Cato > Delia > Alice      (4, 5, 5, 5)
    20 ×   Delia > Alice > Bilal > Cato      (4, 4, 4, 5)

FINAL RESULT
Candidate      Votes  Status
-----------  -------  --------
Alice             38  Elected
Delia             20  Rejected
Bilal             16  Rejected
Cato               0  Rejected


Winner(s) — RCV / Instant-Runoff Voting (single winner)
  Alice

--- 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 (4 of 4): Delia, Bilal, Cato, Alice
   Outside (0):        —
   More than one member ⇒ NO Condorcet winner: the top of the tournament is a
   cycle, so the strongest "candidate" is a set, not a person. Which member of
   the set should win is exactly what Minimax / Ranked Pairs / Schulze disagree
   about — see 05_Ranked_Robin/01_Learn/cycle_resolution.md.
   Note: the Copeland leaders (Delia) are only part of the set — the
   win–loss table's top block understates how wide the contention is.
   RCV-IRV winner Alice is INSIDE the Smith set. ✓
      Not guaranteed — RCV-IRV is not Smith-efficient — but it holds here.
   Fine print: this set contains a pairwise DRAW, and a draw is enough to keep a
   candidate in the Smith set but not in the tighter Schwartz set — so Schwartz
   may be smaller here.
   More: 07_Concepts/topics/smith_set.md

NOTE: a generated cross-method view of the STAR ballots, for comparison only — not the official STAR result.

Ranked Robin (RCV-RR) — every pair, head-to-head

--- Ranked Robin (RCV-RR / Copeland) Method (single winner) ---
 Tabulating 74 ballots (score ballots).

Ballots:
   the ranking Ranked Robin reads ("=" = tied); source scores follow in () per column: Alice, Bilal, Cato, Delia
    18 × Alice=Bilal=Cato > Delia      (5, 5, 5, 4)
    10 × Alice=Bilal > Delia > Cato      (5, 5, 3, 4)
    10 × Alice=Cato > Delia > Bilal      (5, 3, 5, 4)
    16 × Bilal=Cato=Delia > Alice      (4, 5, 5, 5)
    20 × Delia > Alice=Bilal=Cato      (4, 4, 4, 5)

Round-Robin — every pair, head-to-head (For – Against):
   Bilal  beats Alice   16 – 10
   Cato   beats Alice   16 – 10
   Alice  beats Delia   38 – 36
   Bilal  ties  Cato    10 – 10
   Delia  beats Bilal   30 – 28
   Delia  beats Cato    30 – 28

--- Pairwise (Round-Robin) Matrix ---
Head-to-head / pairwise comparison — the Ranked Robin tally
Legend: For - Equal Support - Against   (row vs column)
          |    Alice     |   Bilal     |    Cato     |   Delia     |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
  Alice > |     ---      |10 - 48 - 16 |10 - 48 - 16 |38 -  0 - 36 |
  Bilal > | 16 - 48 - 10 |    ---      |10 - 54 - 10 |28 - 16 - 30 |
   Cato > | 16 - 48 - 10 |10 - 54 - 10 |    ---      |28 - 16 - 30 |
  Delia > | 36 -  0 - 38 |30 - 16 - 28 |30 - 16 - 28 |    ---      |

Win–loss record — Copeland score = wins + ½·ties (highest score wins; ties broken by the Ranked Robin degrees, then lot order):
    #  Candidate  W–L–T  Copeland  Margin  Beats
    1  Delia      2–1–0         2      +2  Bilal, Cato
    2  Bilal      1–1–1       1.5      +4  Alice
    3  Cato       1–1–1       1.5      +4  Alice
    4  Alice      1–2–0         1     -10  Delia

Winner — Ranked Robin (RCV-RR): Delia
   the most head-to-head wins (2).

--- 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 (4 of 4): Delia, Bilal, Cato, Alice
   Outside (0):        —
   More than one member ⇒ NO Condorcet winner: the top of the tournament is a
   cycle, so the strongest "candidate" is a set, not a person. Which member of
   the set should win is exactly what Minimax / Ranked Pairs / Schulze disagree
   about — see 05_Ranked_Robin/01_Learn/cycle_resolution.md.
   Note: the Copeland leaders (Delia) are only part of the set — the
   win–loss table's top block understates how wide the contention is.
   Ranked Robin (RCV-RR) winner Delia is INSIDE the Smith set. ✓
      Guaranteed: Ranked Robin (Copeland) is Smith-efficient — every member of
      the set outscores every outsider, so the top of the win–loss table is
      always inside the set, however the tie among them is then broken.
   Fine print: this set contains a pairwise DRAW, and a draw is enough to keep a
   candidate in the Smith set but not in the tighter Schwartz set — so Schwartz
   may be smaller here.
   More: 07_Concepts/topics/smith_set.md