Hi folks, ElectoramaWeekly for May 20 has been published: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msq9aZA7VAI In this week's episode, Taylor Eigen Fisher, Carlo Estefano, and I took a closer look at Ohio SB395 (the bill proposing Condorcet elections in Ohio), which you can read about on electowiki: https://electowiki.org/wiki/Ohio#SB395 A slightly overlapping group of folks also attended this month's ElectoramaCall, where we discussed future work both on the ElectoramaNews newsletter, and possible topics for ElectoramaWeekly (e.g. folks for us to interview). One thing we discussed in the latter part of the call was possibly focusing on software (both on ElectoramaWeekly and ElectoramaNews). As a result, I've done a bit of work on the "Software" page on electowiki: https://electowiki.org/wiki/Software What software is missing from that page? Is there any software that deserves to be highlighted by ElectoramaNews and/or ElectoramaWeekly (and if so, why)? Is software a good topic, or should we instead focus on one of the other topics we discussed (e.g. the gutting of the Voting Rights Act)? Rob

 Overvote Rule: Count when single continuing

 Eliminate pairwise losing candidates

On 5/20/26 23:45, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote: > What software is missing from that page? Is there any software that > deserves to be highlighted by ElectoramaNews and/or > ElectoramaWeekly ...? Missing from that list is the RCTabPlus software. I wrote a summary of it in your March newsletter, but my description was removed before that newsletter was published. Here's what I wrote: RCTabPlus software was announced in a graphic titled Ranked Choice Voting Plus posted in r/EndFPTP. This open-source software is at: Github/CPSolver/RCTabPlus RCTabPlus extends the RCTab election-grade software used by the RCVRC (Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center) when they assist a US jurisdiction with adopting ranked choice voting. RCTabPlus adds these two options to both single-winner (IRV) and multi-winner (STV) ranked choice voting: Overvote Rule: Count when single continuing Eliminate pairwise losing candidates The better overvote rule dramatically reduces the need to teach voters to avoid overvotes (two or more marks in the same rank column). The pairwise-losing-candidate elimination (which works in both STV and IRV elections) provides multiple benefits including: ensures majority support for the IRV winner, eliminates the center squeeze effect, dramatically reduces Condorcet failures, defeats political tactics that exploit vote splitting, and eliminates the need for a voter to consider whether their ballot will get stuck supporting their favorite-but-less-popular candidate while their second-favorite candidate gets eliminated. > ... deserves to be highlighted ... and if so, why? ... RCTabPlus is very important because it provides a direct path for building on the resources provided by the RCTab software, which is maintained by the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center. This resource is essential because when a jurisdiction adopts "ranked choice voting" the state's or county's election-system vendor needs election-grade software against which they can test their election software (which is what's actually used in all US elections) to make sure it complies with the new law that a city council or state legislature passes. Importantly, both RCTabPlus and RCTab read the official "cast vote record" data used in actual elections. Also note the RCTabPlus and RCTab software includes real election data in formats recognized by election-system vendors. If the RCTabPlus software had been available when Portland adopted ranked choice voting (IRV for mayor and STV for city council) it would have been possible to adopt the better overvote rule. That refinement would have saved lots of money otherwise spent educating Portland voters not to mark more than one candidate in each "rank" column of ovals. I believe this simple election-reform path is even simpler than adopting approval voting. This "plus" version of ranked choice voting overcomes the only two meaningful criticisms of IRV from STAR voting fans. And the elimination of pairwise losing candidates almost always elects the Condorcet winner. Every jurisdiction considering adopting ranked choice voting should become aware of these two options that are now available as additions to RCVRC's election-grade RCTab software, which is used to validate real election software. IMO the RCTabPlus election-grade software is very important! Richard Fobes The VoteFair guy On 5/20/26 23:45, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote: > Hi folks, > > ElectoramaWeekly for May 20 has been published: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msq9aZA7VAI <https://www.youtube.com/ > watch?v=Msq9aZA7VAI> > > In this week's episode, Taylor Eigen Fisher, Carlo Estefano, and I took > a closer look at Ohio SB395 (the bill proposing Condorcet elections in > Ohio), which you can read about on electowiki: > https://electowiki.org/wiki/Ohio#SB395 <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ > Ohio#SB395> > > A slightly overlapping group of folks also attended this month's > ElectoramaCall, where we discussed future work both on the > ElectoramaNews newsletter, and possible topics for ElectoramaWeekly > (e.g. folks for us to interview).  One thing we discussed in the latter > part of the call was possibly focusing on software (both on > ElectoramaWeekly and ElectoramaNews).  As a result, I've done a bit of > work on the "Software" page on electowiki: > https://electowiki.org/wiki/Software <https://electowiki.org/wiki/Software> > > What software is missing from that page?  Is there any software that > deserves to be highlighted by ElectoramaNews and/or ElectoramaWeekly > (and if so, why)?  Is software a good topic, or should we instead focus > on one of the other topics we discussed (e.g. the gutting of the Voting > Rights Act)? > > Rob > > ---- > Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em for list info

  Overvote Rule: Count when single continuing

  Eliminate pairwise losing candidates

Hi Richard, Sorry to see that RCTabPlus wasn't on the Software page. It's there now. Back when we were editing the March newsletter, I didn't entirely remove RCTabPlus, but I pretty aggressively summarized it https://electowiki.org/wiki/ElectoramaNews/2026-March#RCTabPlus You'll note that a lot of your original prose ended up on a new "RCTabPlus" article that I created on electowiki: https://electowiki.org/wiki/RCTabPlus Rob On Fri, May 22, 2026 at 10:52 AM Richard <electionmethods@votefair.org> wrote: > On 5/20/26 23:45, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote: > > What software is missing from that page? Is there any software that > > deserves to be highlighted by ElectoramaNews and/or > > ElectoramaWeekly ...? > > Missing from that list is the RCTabPlus software. > > I wrote a summary of it in your March newsletter, but my description was > removed before that newsletter was published. Here's what I wrote: > > > RCTabPlus software was announced in a graphic titled Ranked Choice > Voting Plus posted in r/EndFPTP. This open-source software is at: > Github/CPSolver/RCTabPlus > > RCTabPlus extends the RCTab election-grade software used by the RCVRC > (Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center) when they assist a US > jurisdiction with adopting ranked choice voting. RCTabPlus adds these > two options to both single-winner (IRV) and multi-winner (STV) ranked > choice voting: > > Overvote Rule: Count when single continuing > > Eliminate pairwise losing candidates > > The better overvote rule dramatically reduces the need to teach voters > to avoid overvotes (two or more marks in the same rank column). > > The pairwise-losing-candidate elimination (which works in both STV and > IRV elections) provides multiple benefits including: ensures majority > support for the IRV winner, eliminates the center squeeze effect, > dramatically reduces Condorcet failures, defeats political tactics that > exploit vote splitting, and eliminates the need for a voter to consider > whether their ballot will get stuck supporting their > favorite-but-less-popular candidate while their second-favorite > candidate gets eliminated. > > > > ... deserves to be highlighted ... and if so, why? ... > > RCTabPlus is very important because it provides a direct path for > building on the resources provided by the RCTab software, which is > maintained by the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center. > > This resource is essential because when a jurisdiction adopts "ranked > choice voting" the state's or county's election-system vendor needs > election-grade software against which they can test their election > software (which is what's actually used in all US elections) to make > sure it complies with the new law that a city council or state > legislature passes. > > Importantly, both RCTabPlus and RCTab read the official "cast vote > record" data used in actual elections. Also note the RCTabPlus and > RCTab software includes real election data in formats recognized by > election-system vendors. > > If the RCTabPlus software had been available when Portland adopted > ranked choice voting (IRV for mayor and STV for city council) it would > have been possible to adopt the better overvote rule. That refinement > would have saved lots of money otherwise spent educating Portland voters > not to mark more than one candidate in each "rank" column of ovals. > > I believe this simple election-reform path is even simpler than adopting > approval voting. > > This "plus" version of ranked choice voting overcomes the only two > meaningful criticisms of IRV from STAR voting fans. > > And the elimination of pairwise losing candidates almost always elects > the Condorcet winner. > > Every jurisdiction considering adopting ranked choice voting should > become aware of these two options that are now available as additions to > RCVRC's election-grade RCTab software, which is used to validate real > election software. > > IMO the RCTabPlus election-grade software is very important! > > Richard Fobes > The VoteFair guy > > > > On 5/20/26 23:45, Rob Lanphier via Election-Methods wrote: > > Hi folks, > > > > ElectoramaWeekly for May 20 has been published: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msq9aZA7VAI <https://www.youtube.com/ > > watch?v=Msq9aZA7VAI> > > > > In this week's episode, Taylor Eigen Fisher, Carlo Estefano, and I took > > a closer look at Ohio SB395 (the bill proposing Condorcet elections in > > Ohio), which you can read about on electowiki: > > https://electowiki.org/wiki/Ohio#SB395 <https://electowiki.org/wiki/ > > Ohio#SB395> > > > > A slightly overlapping group of folks also attended this month's > > ElectoramaCall, where we discussed future work both on the > > ElectoramaNews newsletter, and possible topics for ElectoramaWeekly > > (e.g. folks for us to interview). One thing we discussed in the latter > > part of the call was possibly focusing on software (both on > > ElectoramaWeekly and ElectoramaNews). As a result, I've done a bit of > > work on the "Software" page on electowiki: > > https://electowiki.org/wiki/Software < > https://electowiki.org/wiki/Software> > > > > What software is missing from that page? Is there any software that > > deserves to be highlighted by ElectoramaNews and/or ElectoramaWeekly > > (and if so, why)? Is software a good topic, or should we instead focus > > on one of the other topics we discussed (e.g. the gutting of the Voting > > Rights Act)? > > > > Rob > > > > ---- > > Election-Methods mailing list - see https://electorama.com/em for list > info > >