2.5 KiB
OpenTally
OpenTally is an application for counting various preferential voting elections, with an academic focus, and emphasis on configurability.
OpenTally may be used in a number of different ways:
- as an online web application, no installation or special software required
- as a standalone command line application
- as a Rust library within another application
Features
OpenTally accepts data in the BLT file format, and can count votes using:
- weighted inclusive Gregory STV (e.g. Scottish STV)
- unweighted inclusive Gregory STV (e.g. Australian Senate STV)
- exclusive Gregory STV (e.g. PRSA 1977 and ERS97)
- Meek STV – with tree-packed ballots for efficient computation
- Wright STV
OpenTally is highly customisable, including options for:
- different quotas and quota rules (e.g. exact Droop, Hare)
- calculations using fixed-point arithmetic, guarded fixed-point (quasi-exact) or exact rational numbers
- different tie breaking rules (backwards, random, manual) with auditable deterministic random number generation
- multiple constraints (e.g. affirmative action rules)
- equal rankings
Online usage
After preparing the BLT file, open the web UI. Select the BLT file, and click Count. OpenTally will count the election and display the results in a count sheet.
By clicking Show advanced options, you can customise the options used for the count. A detailed explanation of the various options can be found here.
Once the count is complete, you can click Print result to generate a printable result report.
Command line usage
OpenTally may also be invoked as a command line application. Run ./opentally --help to view help.
For example, run ./opentally stv path/to/blt_file.blt --ties backwards random --random-seed foobar.