Jameson Quinn, wrote, “In 3-2-1 voting, voters rate each candidate “Good”, “OK”, or “Bad”. To find the winner, you first narrow it down to three semifinalists, the candidates with the most “good” ratings. Then, narrow it further to two finalists, the candidates with the fewest “bad” scores. Finally, the winner is the one preferred on more ballots.”

My question is whether or not one can use this same system as an automatic runoff for score voting elections using higher ranges.

If we have a six-point scale (0-5 stars), and each voter scores each candidate from none to five, we can again find the top three scoring candidates. Will the application of the 3-2-1 voting system to the 6-point system result in the same Voter Satisfaction Efficiency as the straight 3-2-1 voting system?

One way of determining the winner of the three candidates would be if we consider the center of the range (2.5) as the “zero-point” and then all numbers higher than it as positive (i.e., #3 = +1) and all those lower as negative (i.e., #2 = -1). We could sum only the negative scores and eliminates the candidate with the most negative score to remove one of the three candidates. Finally, we would find the Condorcet winner of the remaining two. Would that work?