The single transferable vote
(STV) is a voting system designed to achieve
proportional representation through ranked
voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially
allocated to his or her most preferred candidate,
and then, after candidates have been either
elected or eliminated, any surplus or unused
votes are transferred according to the voter's
stated preferences. The system minimizes
"wasted" votes, provides approximately
proportional representation, and enables votes to
be explicitly cast for individual candidates rather
than for closed party lists.