123

From Voteswap Canada

123 voting or alternative vote (UK terminology) or instant runoff voting (US terminology) is a form of voting using a ranked ballot (as does STV and BSTV+C+L), but with only a single winner per district. The term "123" is preferable although some places using this system, like Australia, force voters to rank every single candidate. Other such systems are robust if not every candidate is ranked by every voter (Australia also has mandatory voting).

123, because it doesn't change districting, is thus an incremental reform from FPTP and some experts in Canada think it can be imposed, especially for Senate elections, without national referendum. However it is just as vulnerable as FPTP to gerrymandering [1] though the vote splitting impact is very much less.

In Canada it seems most likely that a 123 system will be adopted first for municipal elections. It is already used internally in political party leadership elections, as vote swap FAQ notes.

Some advocates see 123 only as an interim step towards STV or BSTV+C+L or the like, which use the same ballot. Building public familiarity with the ballot will, according to these, make it easier to sell another counting system that uses the same ballot for provincial/federal elections.

For details on its mechanics see Wikipedia.

See "the frustrated voter" for a detailed comparison of various types of balloting systems with illustrations.