Computer Resources for IRV Election Counting

Do you want to use a computer program for your count? We have come across several ways to count votes in ranked ballot elections using choice voting.

  • OpenSTV lets you run elections with all well-established choice voting and instant runoff voting counting rules in addition to other single- and multi-winner methods. It is available free of charge for all current platforms. Latest version includes new counting rules: Scottish choice voting, CA Green Party choice voting and approval voting.
  • Voting Solutions makes ChoicePlus Lite available free of charge. To use ChoicePlus, you need a computer (preferably a portable computer), and someone that is pretty comfortable technically - ChoicePlus is powerful and very fast, but not that user-friendly.
  • ChoiceRanker is a web-based instant runoff voting demonstration site. Questions on current political issues and candidates are regularly updated, and visitors to the site can vote on these issues, and then see and explanation of how their votes are counted using IRV.
  • DemoChoice is an open-source, web-based choice voting and instant runoff voting online polling mechanism. You can use this to set up web-based polling or elections.
  • Everyone Counts (E1C) has developed a very sophisticated online election and survey product that handles multiple versions of ranked ballot elections. E1C has allowed CVD to set up demonstration elections with their system, and FairVote has partnered with E1C to run private sector elections.
  • The Electoral Reform Society of Great Britain produces trial software for use in non-commercial elections. This product requires registration for the full version of the software.

Note: Listing here does not constitute an endorsement or guarantee about the products mentioned.] With a computerized count, once you have it properly configured all you have to do is type in the candidates and ballots, and let the computer do the count.