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Election types

Implemented now​

Single choice​

  • voter selects exactly one candidate
  • winner is the candidate with the highest vote count
  • best used when exactly one seat or one winner is needed

Binary choice​

  • special case with exactly two candidates or options
  • winner is the option with more votes
  • useful for yes/no or two-option decisions

Approval voting​

  • voter can select any number of acceptable candidates
  • each selected candidate receives one vote
  • useful when voters should support all acceptable options instead of only one

Limited vote​

  • voter can select up to a configured number of candidates
  • each selected candidate receives one vote
  • election configuration stores maxSelections
  • useful when several seats exist but voters should not select every candidate

Borda count​

  • voter ranks all candidates
  • higher ranks receive more points
  • results are displayed as points instead of plain votes
  • useful when overall preference order matters more than only the first choice

Ballot behavior​

The voting UI adapts to the election type:

  • single and binary elections expect one selected candidate
  • approval and limited-vote elections expect a list of selected candidates
  • Borda count expects a ranked list of candidates

The confirm step uses the same stored ballot object and submits a type-specific payload to the backend.

Validation rules​

Important examples:

  • binary elections should only have two options
  • limited-vote elections should not allow more than maxSelections
  • Borda elections require a complete ranking of candidates
  • all vote submissions are validated again on the backend

Result display​

The result views already distinguish between:

  • votes for single, binary, approval, and limited-vote elections
  • points for Borda-count elections

Selection guidance​

If you are choosing an election type:

  1. use single choice for a single winner
  2. use binary choice for yes/no or two-option decisions
  3. use approval voting when several acceptable candidates may exist
  4. use limited vote when each voter should support only a fixed number of candidates
  5. use Borda count when ranking matters

Planned later​

  • candidate pair voting
  • dual-role elections
  • two-round runoff
  • instant runoff voting
  • score voting