Feature Focus: Introducing Borda Count Voting

Choosing the right voting system is crucial to ensuring your vote results truly reflect your members and comply with your organization's bylaws. While plurality voting works for some votes, sometimes you need a voting method that captures the intensity of preference and helps find the most widely accepted option.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that ElectionBuddy now supports Borda! 

What is Borda Count Voting?

Borda count is a preferential voting system in which voters don’t just pick one; they rank the candidates or options in order of preference. Think of it like scoring candidates instead of just selecting them. 

How Borda count voting works: 

• Ranking: Voters rank each candidate or option on the ballot. Their first choice gets the highest rank (e.g., 1), their second choice gets the next rank (2), and so on.
• Assigning Points: Based on these ranks, points are automatically assigned. The highest-ranked candidate (1st choice) receives the most points, the second-ranked receives 1 fewer point, and so on.
• Calculating the Winner: All the points awarded to each option are tallied across all ballots. The candidate or option with the highest total score is declared the winner. 

So, for example, you may end up with a table that looks like the one below if there are 4 candidates listed.

In this example, Alice has the highest point total and therefore would be declared the winner.

Why Use Borda Count?

Borda Count offers unique advantages, especially when:

• You want to find a consensus candidate that has broad support as opposed to a narrow majority favorite.
• You need to measure the relative preferences of voters for different options more accurately than a simple "pick one" option.
• It's important to ensure that less popular but widely acceptable options have a fair chance.

This method encourages voters to consider all options and state their preferences as opposed to a single majority choice.

Try Borda Count Today!

Ready to see if Borda Count is the right fit for your next election? It's easy to set up in ElectionBuddy. Explore this powerful voting system and see how it can help your organization find consensus outcomes.

Learn more about Borda Count.

Want to try for yourself? Register for an account today!