Zero support — nobody scored anybody (Plurality)¶

Generated from zero_support_plurality.yaml — do not edit by hand. Regenerate: python STARVote_LH_tabulation_engine/tools_adam/scripts/build_yaml_pages.py.

Method: plurality · 1 seat · Expected winner: Ada

Official tie-break (lot) order: Ada > Ben > Cleo > Dev > Elsa — consulted only if every deterministic tiebreaker stays tied (how the ladder works).

Scenario¶

Five nominees, three voters, and every single score is 0.

This is the degenerate limit of a tie: not "the ballots point two ways" but "the ballots point nowhere at all". Every candidate has the same total (0), every head-to-head is Equal Support 0-0, and every rung above the lot has nothing to count — so whichever method is asked, the answer comes from the published lot order and not from a vote.

It is a real shape, not only a thought experiment. A committee ballot that goes out with five names nobody has heard of comes back like this; so does a race where the electorate deliberately withholds support. What the file is for is checking that the engine says so OUT LOUD rather than reporting a winner as though somebody had chosen one.

Same three ballots are counted six ways in this folder — see the README for what each method does with them, and which of the six admits the lot decided.

Ballots¶

Row 1 = candidate names; each later row is one voter's 0–5 scores (a N × prefix = N identical ballots).

Ada,Ben,Cleo,Dev,Elsa
0,0,0,0,0   # voter 1 — turned out, then scored every nominee 0
0,0,0,0,0   # voter 2 — a deliberate 0 is not a blank ballot
0,0,0,0,0   # voter 3 — the third ballot says the same thing

What the engine says¶

Full report from the _tabulated mirror (regenerated on every run; every analysis forced on):

--- Choose-One / Plurality Voting Method (single winner) ---
 Tabulating 3 ballots.

                                                     Ada    Ben    Cleo   Dev    Elsa 
  voter 1 — turned out, then scored every nominee 0   -      -      -      -      -   
  voter 2 — a deliberate 0 is not a blank ballot      -      -      -      -      -   
  voter 3 — the third ballot says the same thing      -      -      -      -      -   

  Count the marks:  Ada 0 · Ben 0 · Cleo 0 · Dev 0 · Elsa 0
  (3 ballot(s) marked nobody.)

 A 5-way tie for first: Ada, Ben, Cleo, Dev, Elsa — 0 mark(s) each.
   Counting the marks is all a choose-one ballot can do, so the ballots cannot break it;
   the pre-published lot order decides: ['Ada', 'Ben', 'Cleo', 'Dev', 'Elsa'].

[Lot-decided tie — rare]
  ⚠ The result here was set by lot, not by the votes.

Winner — Choose-One / Plurality Voting Method (single winner)
 Ada   (0 of 3 marks, by lot)

Run it yourself:

python STARVote_LH_tabulation_engine/starvote_larry_hastings.py method_comparisons/zero_support_election/cases/zero_support_plurality.yaml

Zero support — nobody scored anybody (Plurality)¶

Scenario¶

Ballots¶

What the engine says¶

See also¶