As we send you all over to vote for who will win the SOMA cafe Carrotmob we thought we should explain how our voting system works, for those unfamiliar with it. We’ve built our own voting system using the model of Instant-Runoff Voting (also known as “Ranked Choice Voting”). We see this as a better system for voting than most traditional methods. For example, this method of voting allows voters to vote for whoever they would actually want to win, without having to compromise their true opinion in order to “pick a winner”. In other words, this method gets rid of the “spoiler” dynamic, or the idea of “wasted” votes. No voting system is perfect, but we think this method is superior to most. Here’s how it works:

Instant-runoff voting uses ranked choice; voters rank contestants in their order of preference. Votes are tallied in a series of rounds.

In the first round, everyone’s first-choice votes are tallied. If a contestant has more than half of the total votes and more than anyone else, this contestant wins. Otherwise the contestant(s) with the smallest number of votes is/are eliminated.

In the second round, a voter’s second-choice vote is counted if that voter’s first-choice vote was for a contestant who has been eliminated. Again, a contestant with more than half the total votes wins; contestants with the fewest votes are eliminated.

In further rounds, each voter’s highest-ranked vote for a contestant still in the contest is counted. Elimination continues until a contestant has more than half the total votes or a tie prevents deciding a winner.

Got that? If not, you can watch this video to explain it, or read more on Wikipedia or Fairvote.org. The other thing to keep in mind is that when we display the results of the voting we are only showing you who would win if the voting were closed at any given moment…you don’t see how close it is, and it’s very easy for a store to make the jump from last place to first place if many people have chosen that store as their 2nd choice…

Happy voting!