How APA’s Preferential Voting System Works

The preferential voting system will be used in the election of the member-in-training trustee-elect. There will be three candidates for member-in-training trustee-elect (MITTE) on APA’s 2003 ballot. The preferential voting system will be used for this race because it avoids the cost and time of a runoff election by having members vote in a single ballot for all their choices in order of preference. Voters need to understand its importance. We hope this explanation will encourage members to use the system. (These instructions are for the printed ballot; members who choose to vote on the Web will find instructions adapted for the computerized ballot once online.)

In the MITTE race, next to each candidate’s name are three ovals marked 1, 2, and 3. To mark your ballot, decide which candidate you want to win. Make a solid mark in the oval marked 1 next to that person’s name. Look at the remaining candidates and decide which one you would want to win if your first choice received the lowest number of first-choice votes and was eliminated from the race. Make a solid mark in the oval marked 2 next to that person’s name. Indicate your last choice by making a solid mark in the oval marked 3 next to that candidate’s name. (For more information about the ballot, see the box at right.)

Voters must decide which candidate they would want to vote for if the candidate of their first choice receives the lowest number of first-choice votes and is therefore eliminated from the contest. The only second-choice votes that are distributed are those on the ballots of the candidate with the lowest number of first-choice votes. You are not helping your first-choice candidate in any way by not rank-ordering the remaining candidates. Conversely, you are not hurting your first-choice candidate in any way by rank-ordering the remaining candidates.

The procedures for counting preferential votes are as follows: All first-choice votes for each candidate are counted. If no candidate receives a majority vote, the candidate with the lowest number of first-choice votes is eliminated. His or her ballots are then redistributed to the remaining candidates based on voters’ second choices and added to each of the remaining candidates’ first-choice votes to determine which one has now received a majority vote.

Instructions for preferential voting online will be on the online ballot.

Remember: To be sure you get the most out of your APA voting privileges, be sure to rank-order all the candidates in the MITTE race.