Important Terms

Fixed Post:  50%+1 of the total votes cast.

An active candidate's  vote count includes its First Choice votes.

An inactive candidate's vote count does not include its First Choice votes.

Known Second Choice Votes  are Second Choice votes on ballots whose First Choice candidate has been declared inactive that have been retabulated.

Potential Second Choice Votes  are Second Choice votes on ballots whose First Choice candidate has been declared inactive but have not yet been retabulated.

The 'Potential Second Choice Vote'  is only used to determine the 'Possible Vote'.  It is never part of the actual vote total.

Possible Vote is the maximum  number of votes that a candidate could reach. It include First Choice votes, Known Second Choice Votes and Potential Second Choice Votes .

The 'Possible Vote'  is only used to determine which candidate remains 'active'. It is never part of the actual vote total.

Combined Vote is total number of First Choice votes and  Known Second Choice Votes.

Highpoint is highest Combined Vote that a candidate can achieve.

How the Count Works

You may want to check out the flowchart first.

The counting is divided into 3 phases:

Phase 1: Initial Count and Ranking

All candidates are active.
First choice votes of all voters are tabulated.
The total number of votes is determined and the Fixed Post is set at 50%+1 of the total number.
The candidates are ranked from highest to lowest based on their first choice vote total.   * The candidates' rank is set. It does not change. *

If the Combined Vote of a candidate has reached the Fixed Post, he is declared the winner. * At this point the combined vote is just the total First Choice votes. *

Phase 2: De-activate  candidates and tabulate Second Choice Votes.

* There is more than one active candidate in phase 2. *

Step 1: The lowest ranked active candidate is declared inactive.

Step 2: The Possible Vote  of the next lowest ranked candidate is determined.

If the Possible Vote  of the that candidate is not enough to reach the Fixed Post, and there is more than one active candidate then go back to 'Step1'. If there is only one active candidate then proceed to phase 3.

If the Possible Vote  of the lowest ranked active candidate is  enough to reach the Fixed Post, and there is more than one active candidate then tabulate Potential Second Choice Votes. Otherwise move on to phase 3.

If the Combined Vote of a active candidate has reached the Fixed Post, he is declared the winner. If not then go back to Step 1.

Phase 3:  Determine Highpoints

* There is always one active candidate in phase 3. *

Step 1: Tabulate Potential Second Choice Votes. If the Combined Vote of the active candidate has reached the Fixed Post, he is declared the winner.  Otherwise the active candidate's Combined Vote is recorded as its Highpoint. The active candidate is declared inactive and the next highest ranked candidate is 're-activated' (he takes back his first choice votes).

Step 2: Repeat step 1 until a winner is declared or there are no candidates ranked lower than the current active candidate. In that case the candidate with the highest Highpoint is declared the winner.