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The Borda method or order of merit is a positional voting rule which gives each candidate a number of points equal to the number of candidates ranked below them: the lowest-ranked candidate gets 0 points, the second-lowest gets 1 point, and so on. Once all votes have been counted, the option or candidate with the most points is the winner.
The Borda count was developed independently several times, being first proposed in 1435 by Nicholas of Cusa (see History below),[1][2][note 1] but is named after the 18th-century French mathematician and naval engineer Jean-Charles de Borda, who devised the system in 1770.[3]
The Borda count is well-known in social choice theory for both its pleasant theoretical properties and its ease of manipulation. In the absence of strategic voting and strategic nomination, the Borda count tends to elect broadly-acceptable options or candidates (rather than consistently following the preferences of a majority);[4] when both voting and nomination patterns are completely random, the Borda count generally has an exceptionally high social utility efficiency.[5] However, the method is highly vulnerable to spoiler effects when there are clusters of similar candidates.[5] The exact handling of equal-rank or truncated ballots can have a dramatic effect on how strategic voting plays out, with the modified and tournament variations generally dominated by a disastrous kind of strategy called turkey-raising.[6][7]
The traditional Borda method is currently used to elect two ethnic minority members of the National Assembly of Slovenia,[7] in modified forms to determine which candidates are elected to the party list seats in Icelandic parliamentary elections,[citation needed] and for selecting presidential election candidates in Kiribati.[8] A variant known as the Dowdall system is used to elect members of the Parliament of Nauru.[9] Until the early 1970s, another variant was used in Finland to select individual candidates within party lists.[citation needed] It is also widely used throughout the world by various private organizations and competitions.
The Quota Borda system is a proportional multiwinner variant.
Borda count is sometimes described as a consensus-based voting system, since it can sometimes choose a more broadly acceptable option over the one with majority support.
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