voteselects

Voteselects is a term used in discussions of voting technology to describe a class of ballot interactions in which voters indicate selections by marking one or more options within a contest. The concept emphasizes the ability to specify preferred candidates or policy options in a single ballot without forcing a single choice, and often includes rules that limit the number of selections or assign relative weights to them.

In a voteselect system, the interface presents a list of options for each contest. Voters select one or more choices; depending on the design, selections can be unweighted (approval-like), ordered (ranking), or accompanied by weights. Tallies may use simple counts for each option, vector tallies across a set of candidates, or transfer-like procedures if rankings are involved.

Variants and implementations vary by context. Some ballots allow multiple selections per office with a cap, others support ranking across several candidates. In corporate governance or student elections, voteselects are used to capture more nuanced preferences while maintaining familiar ballot structures.

Advantages include greater expressiveness and potential reduction of ballot spoilage, while challenges include counting complexity, potential for ballot fatigue, and the need for clear voter instructions.

History and usage: The term is found in academic literature and in discussions of experimental electronic-ballot design. It is not a standardized electoral method and remains more common in pilot projects, research settings, and design discussions than in broad government use. See also: ranked-choice voting, approval voting, preferential ballots.