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Pineapple progression (1/3) — 34% wins Choose-One, but Cheese is the real choice

▶ Live on BetterVoting: vote · results ↗ (election ht2c3g · test BV2216) — an independent tabulator to check the winners below against.

Bucket — IRV_OUTLIER_RR_WITH_STAR: RCV-IRV is the outlier (center squeeze)

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

What happens

STAR elects Cheese — and so do Ranked Robin and Condorcet, because Cheese is the head-to-head (pairwise) winner, beating every rival one-on-one. RCV-IRV instead elects Pineapple: Cheese collects fewer top (first-choice) votes, so IRV eliminates Cheese early, and those ballots transfer to Pineapple. This is the classic center squeeze — the broadly acceptable candidate is knocked out by round-by-round elimination even though a majority prefers them in a direct matchup. Two methods (STAR + RR) against one (RCV-IRV): IRV is the outlier.

Winners by method

Method Winner
STAR Cheese
RCV-IRV Pineapple
Ranked Robin (RCV-RR) Cheese
Approval Cheese
Range / Score Cheese
Condorcet Cheese

Flags: none

Source election: method_comparisons/minority_winner_progression/cases/pineapple_34pct.yaml · STAR tabulated mirror: pineapple_34pct_tabulated.txt

4 candidates, 99 ballots.

The ballots

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

Count Pineapple Anchovy Mushroom Cheese
34 5 0 0 4
33 0 5 0 4
32 0 0 5 4

STAR result (official)

Scoring round (sum of scores): Cheese 396, Pineapple 170, Anchovy 165, Mushroom 160

Finalists (top two): Cheese and Pineapple

Automatic runoff: Cheese 65 vs Pineapple 34

STAR winner: Cheese

Full LH STAR engine report:

--- Runoff (Preference) Matrix ---
Head-to-head / pairwise comparison
Legend: For - Equal Support - Against
        * indicates Top 2 Finalist
                  |  * Pineapple  |  * Cheese    |
--------------------------------------------------
    * Pineapple > |      ---      |34 -  0 - 65  |
       * Cheese > | 65 -  0 - 34  |     ---      |

[Divergence from STAR]
  STAR                   = Cheese
  Choose-One (Plurality) = Pineapple   (differs from STAR)
  RCV-IRV                = Pineapple   (differs from STAR)
  Note: no ballots had tied scores, so RCV-IRV vs STAR here is a genuine
        method difference, not a tie-breaking artifact.
  Note: Ranked Robin (RCV-RR) agrees with STAR, so RCV-IRV is the lone
        outlier — the classic center-squeeze signature.

--- STAR Voting Method (single winner) ---
 Tabulating 99 ballots.
Count × Pineapple,Anchovy,Mushroom,Cheese
   34 ×         5,      0,       0,     4
   33 ×         0,      5,       0,     4
   32 ×         0,      0,       5,     4

[Score Distribution] (how many ballots gave each star rating)
                   Score
Candidate   5   4   3   2   1   0  | Total   Avg
Pineapple  34   0   0   0   0  65  |   170   1.7
Anchovy    33   0   0   0   0  66  |   165   1.7
Mushroom   32   0   0   0   0  67  |   160   1.6
Cheese      0  99   0   0   0   0  |   396   4.0

Scoring Round
 The two highest-scoring candidates advance to the next round.
   Cheese        -- 396 -- First place
   Pineapple     -- 170 -- Second place
   Anchovy       -- 165
   Mushroom      -- 160
 Cheese and Pineapple advance.

Automatic Runoff Round
 The candidate preferred in the most head-to-head matchups wins.
   Cheese        -- 65 -- First place
   Pineapple     -- 34
   Equal Support --  0
 Cheese wins.
   Voters with a preference: 99 of 99 (no Equal Support).
   Cheese 65 (66%) vs Pineapple 34 (34%); majority = 50.

Winner — STAR Voting Method (single winner)
 Cheese

RCV-IRV — round by round

--- RCV / Instant-Runoff Voting (single winner) ---
 Tabulating 99 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: Pineapple, Anchovy, Mushroom, Cheese
    34 ×   Pineapple > Cheese      (5, 0, 0, 4)
    33 ×   Anchovy > Cheese      (0, 5, 0, 4)
    32 ×   Mushroom > Cheese      (0, 0, 5, 4)

ROUND 1
Candidate      Votes  Status
-----------  -------  --------
Pineapple         34  Hopeful
Anchovy           33  Hopeful
Mushroom          32  Rejected
Cheese             0  Rejected

FINAL RESULT
Candidate      Votes  Status
-----------  -------  --------
Pineapple         34  Elected
Anchovy           33  Rejected
Mushroom           0  Rejected
Cheese             0  Rejected
Blank Votes       32  Rejected


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

--- 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 4): Cheese
   Outside (3):        Pineapple, Anchovy, Mushroom
   One member ⇒ Cheese is the Condorcet winner, beating every rival head-to-head.
   RCV-IRV winner Pineapple is OUTSIDE the Smith set. ✗
      Every member of the set (Cheese) beats Pineapple head-to-head, yet
      RCV-IRV elected Pineapple 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

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 99 ballots (score ballots).

Ballots:
   the ranking Ranked Robin reads ("=" = tied); source scores follow in () per column: Pineapple, Anchovy, Mushroom, Cheese
    34 × Pineapple > Cheese > Anchovy=Mushroom      (5, 0, 0, 4)
    33 × Anchovy > Cheese > Pineapple=Mushroom      (0, 5, 0, 4)
    32 × Mushroom > Cheese > Pineapple=Anchovy      (0, 0, 5, 4)

Round-Robin — every pair, head-to-head (For – Against):
   Pineapple  beats Anchovy     34 – 33
   Pineapple  beats Mushroom    34 – 32
   Cheese     beats Pineapple   65 – 34
   Anchovy    beats Mushroom    33 – 32
   Cheese     beats Anchovy     66 – 33
   Cheese     beats Mushroom    67 – 32

--- Pairwise (Round-Robin) Matrix ---
Head-to-head / pairwise comparison — the Ranked Robin tally
Legend: For - Equal Support - Against   (row vs column)
              |  Pineapple   |  Anchovy    |  Mushroom   |   Cheese    |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Pineapple > |     ---      |34 - 32 - 33 |34 - 33 - 32 |34 -  0 - 65 |
    Anchovy > | 33 - 32 - 34 |    ---      |33 - 34 - 32 |33 -  0 - 66 |
   Mushroom > | 32 - 33 - 34 |32 - 34 - 33 |    ---      |32 -  0 - 67 |
     Cheese > | 65 -  0 - 34 |66 -  0 - 33 |67 -  0 - 32 |    ---      |

Win–loss record — Copeland score = wins + ½·ties (highest score wins; ties broken by total margin, then lot order):
    #  Candidate  W–L–T  Copeland  Margin  Beats
    1  Cheese     3–0–0         3     +99  Pineapple, Anchovy, Mushroom
    2  Pineapple  2–1–0         2     -28  Anchovy, Mushroom
    3  Anchovy    1–2–0         1     -33  Mushroom
    4  Mushroom   0–3–0         0     -38  —

Winner — Ranked Robin (RCV-RR): Cheese
   beats every opponent head-to-head — the Condorcet winner.

--- 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 4): Cheese
   Outside (3):        Pineapple, Anchovy, Mushroom
   One member ⇒ Cheese is the Condorcet winner, beating every rival head-to-head.
   Ranked Robin (RCV-RR) winner Cheese 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.
   More: 07_Concepts/topics/smith_set.md