Weighted Voting
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Weighted voting is most useful for 'taking the temperature of a group' as it works towards consensus. It is also sometimes used to reduce the number of ideas or select one from a list. Because weighted voting is based on the positions and preferences of group members and involves neither selection criteria nor discussion, it seldom produces a satisfactory agreement by itself.
How to Use Weighted Voting
Draw a table — options by members — on a flip chart, as shown below. Give each member a number of votes to distribute in line with their preferences. As a rule of thumb, the number of votes should be about 1½ times the number of options. Members then decide how to distribute their votes among the options to indicate their relative preferences.
- Encourage people to spread their votes to represent their relative feelings about the options rather than lump all their votes on a single favourite.
- Members should decide how to distribute their votes (preferably jotted down on paper) before any votes are recorded on the chart.
- Ask members to show their votes for each option by raising the number of fingers representing their vote.
- Ask for and record votes by option — not by person. Call for the votes for the first option, then the second, and so on. Record all votes so the group can see where the agreements and disagreements lie.
The following is an example of weighted voting used by a team trying to agree on where to have their Christmas lunch. Each member had six votes to distribute among four options.
| Sue | Pip | Tom | Rob | Ann | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King's Head | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Staff Canteen | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Copper Kettle | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Burger Hut | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Weighted voting does not make decisions. It merely gives the group information on where the individual members stand — and how strongly. This information makes it easier to uncover opposing viewpoints. Consensus cannot be reached without dealing with those viewpoints.
Variation
Instead of giving people a number of votes of equal value to be distributed as they like, you could provide them with a set of 'pre-weighted' votes to help separate the options. In the above example, you could give people three votes with values of 1, 3 and 5 to distribute among the four options. I'm unsure if this is a good recommendation, but this system is used in the "Eurovision Song Contest".
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