# Poll: was your vote in the 2025 board election thrown away **URL:** \ **Category:** Elections\ **Created:** [March 21, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943 "2025-03-21T23:09:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iank](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/discuss.opensource.org/iank/32/373_2.png) [@iank](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/iank)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/1 "2025-03-21T23:09:09Z")
_Poll ([view on site](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/1))_ ---
**Author:** ![McCoy\_Smith](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/discuss.opensource.org/mccoy_smith/32/439_2.png) [@McCoy\_Smith](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/McCoy_Smith)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/2 "2025-03-21T23:28:23Z")
Might want to anonymize the results. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![nick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/discuss.opensource.org/nick/32/542_2.png) [@nick](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/nick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/3 "2025-03-22T00:06:36Z")
Unlisted on March 22, 2025, 12:06am UTC ---
**Author:** ![jberkus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@jberkus](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/jberkus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/4 "2025-03-22T00:54:44Z")
Given how STV functions, the only way your vote was really “thrown away” is if you voted for only one candidate – and then your vote wouldn’t be materially different if they simply lost. That’s part of the idea of using STV, to let voters have an influence on the outcome even if they don’t get their first choice. Of course, how people _feel_ about it might be different. ---
**Author:** ![chadwhitacre](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/discuss.opensource.org/chadwhitacre/32/428_2.png) [@chadwhitacre](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/chadwhitacre)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 1:05am UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/5 "2025-03-22T01:05:35Z")
> [@jberkus](#): > > the only way your vote was really “thrown away” is if you voted for only one candidate I suspect Ian’s subtext is that he voted for only candidates who were excluded for not signing the board agreement. ---
**Author:** ![nick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/discuss.opensource.org/nick/32/542_2.png) [@nick](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/nick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/6 "2025-03-22T11:32:41Z")
Listed on March 22, 2025, 11:32am UTC ---
**Author:** ![nick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/discuss.opensource.org/nick/32/542_2.png) [@nick](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/nick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 11:51am UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/7 "2025-03-22T11:51:50Z")
Hi @iank, Please, refrain from posting topics using this tone. We are open to a civil conversation. We don’t “throw” votes away, but as a voter it’s very reasonable for you to ask your candidates why they ran if they didn’t intend on joining the Board by signing the [agreement](https://opensource.org/board/board-member-agreement) and thus becoming ineligible. If you’re confused by the [Scotish STV](https://opavote.com/methods/single-transferable-vote) voting method, we are happy to clarify. We can’t tally for ineligible candidates, because you don’t just move on to the next person down the list. You have to run the calculations for the eligible candidates. I’ve closed the thread, but you can start a new one following our [community guidelines](https://discuss.opensource.org/faq). ---
**Author:** ![nick](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/discuss.opensource.org/nick/32/542_2.png) [@nick](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/nick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 11:53am UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/8 "2025-03-22T11:53:06Z")
Closed on March 22, 2025, 11:53am UTC ---
**Author:** ![jberkus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@jberkus](https://discuss.opensource.org/u/jberkus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://discuss.opensource.org/t/poll-was-your-vote-in-the-2025-board-election-thrown-away/943/9 "2025-03-22T18:26:35Z")
Well, that’s any voter’s perogative, but that’s not an ideal way to vote with STV or any ranked-choice method. The whole reason we use ranked choice is to avoid throwing away votes – if people don’t get their first choice, at least they get their second or third choice. I did a whole info session about this for Portland’s recent elections. Lots of folks get confused and think somehow their vote “counts more” if they only vote for one candidate. It does not. Probably we should link some “how to vote STV” videos for next year’s elections. Added to retro!