first-preference vote

{{Short description|Individual voter's first choice}}{{For|the electoral method|First-preference plurality}}{{Electoral systems|expanded=Social and collective choice}}File:Preferential ballot.svg

A first-preference is a voter's most-preferred candidate.{{cite web |title=Explainer: What is preferential voting? |url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/14/explainer-what-preferential-voting |access-date=10 August 2024 |publisher=Special Broadcasting Service |archive-date=25 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125170316/http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/14/explainer-what-preferential-voting |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=November 2014 |title=How the Dáil is Elected |url=http://www.environ.ie/en/LocalGovernment/Voting/PublicationsDocuments/FileDownLoad,1869,en.pdf#page=10 |access-date=24 May 2015 |publisher=Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, (Ireland) |page=10}}{{cite web |date=18 February 2011 |title="Full transcript – David Cameron – The case against AV – London – 18 February 2011" |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2011/02/vote-system-politics-australia |access-date=24 May 2015 |publisher=New Statesman |archive-date=24 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524162643/http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2011/02/vote-system-politics-australia |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=23 May 2015 |title=By-Election: Carlow-Kilkenny |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/results/2015/by/cw-kk/ |access-date=24 May 2015 |publisher=RTÉ |archive-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525205015/http://www.rte.ie/news/results/2015/by/cw-kk/ |url-status=live }} In certain ranked systems such as first preference plurality, ranked-choice voting (RCV), and the single transferable vote, first preferences for a candidate are considered most important and prioritized heavily. This incentivizes pandering to the political base or "core support" as a result of the center squeeze effect. Methods like Condorcet voting, rated voting, and the Borda count do not exhibit such effects. Methods like anti-plurality voting and Coombs' method have the opposite effect, being dominated by a voter's bottom rankings and so tending to elect the "least offensive" candidates.

First-preference votes are used by psephologists and the print and broadcast media to broadly describe the state of the parties at elections and the swing between elections.{{cite web |title=First Preference Vote |url=http://elections.uwa.edu.au/glossaryc.lasso?CondensedGlossary=firstpreferencevote |access-date=24 May 2015 |publisher=University of Western Australia |archive-date=27 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227005342/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/glossaryc.lasso?CondensedGlossary=firstpreferencevote |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=14 September 2012 |title=Cooma-Monaro Shire Council: Summary of First Preference Votes for each Candidate |url=http://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/cooma-monaro-shire-council/councillor |access-date=7 October 2012 |work=Local Government Elections 2012 |publisher=Electoral Commission of New South Wales |archive-date=4 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304174935/https://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/cooma-monaro-shire-council/councillor |url-status=dead }} The term is much-used in Australian politics, where ranked voting has been universal at federal, state, and local levels since the 1920s.