Ineligible candidates receiving votes

[Guest Larry S]

Let's say we have an election with three candidates. One of the candidates is not eligible (let's just say too young) 25 people vote. Candidate A gets 12 votes. Candidate B gets 8 votes, and Candidate C gets 5 votes. Do the 5 votes count as part of the total? Or must there be a run off since Candidate A did not receive a majority of the 25 votes, (13) even though Candidate A received a majority (12) of the 20 votes that were for eligible candidates?

[puzzling]

On 3/15/2023 at 5:50 AM, Guest Larry S said:

Let's say we have an election with three candidates. One of the candidates is not eligible (let's just say too young) 25 people vote. Candidate A gets 12 votes. Candidate B gets 8 votes, and Candidate C gets 5 votes. Do the 5 votes count as part of the total? Or must there be a run off since Candidate A did not receive a majority of the 25 votes, (13) even though Candidate A received a majority (12) of the 20 votes that were for eligible candidates?

Under the rules in RONR you need a new election,  new nominations can be taken and no-one is removed of the candidates (except if they withdraw)

But it looks you have your own rules for elections,  for a start you have eligibility criteria and all your rules they have priority over RONR. 

[Josh Martin]

On 3/15/2023 at 12:50 AM, Guest Larry S said:

One of the candidates is not eligible (let's just say too young) 25 people vote. Candidate A gets 12 votes. Candidate B gets 8 votes, and Candidate C gets 5 votes. Do the 5 votes count as part of the total?

Yes. Illegal votes, including votes for ineligible candidates, are included in the total.

On 3/15/2023 at 12:50 AM, Guest Larry S said:

Or must there be a run off since Candidate A did not receive a majority of the 25 votes, (13) even though Candidate A received a majority (12) of the 20 votes that were for eligible candidates?

I would not describe it as a "run off," but there must be another round of voting held, because no candidate received a majority of the votes cast.

[Richard Brown]

On 3/15/2023 at 12:50 AM, Guest Larry S said:

Or must there be a run off since Candidate A did not receive a majority of the 25 votes

You have a “new election“ because no candidate received a majority of the votes cast. However, it is not a “runoff“ because per the rules in RONR all candidates remain on the ballot unless some voluntarily withdraw.

[Josh Martin]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:02 AM, Richard Brown said:

You have a “new election“ because no candidate received a majority of the votes cast. However, it is not a “runoff“ because per the rules in RONR all candidates remain on the ballot unless some voluntarily withdraw.

Although admittedly this is an unusual circumstance, because in this instance the third candidate is not eligible. So it would seem the chair should inform members of this fact and suggest they vote for an eligible candidate in future rounds.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 3/15/2023 at 1:50 AM, Guest Larry S said:

Let's say we have an election with three candidates. One of the candidates is not eligible (let's just say too young) 25 people vote. Candidate A gets 12 votes. Candidate B gets 8 votes, and Candidate C gets 5 votes. Do the 5 votes count as part of the total? Or must there be a run off since Candidate A did not receive a majority of the 25 votes, (13) even though Candidate A received a majority (12) of the 20 votes that were for eligible candidates?

Votes for ineligible candidates are considered "illegal votes".  They are counted as votes cast, but are not credited to any candidate.  Therefore, they can deny a majority as you have observed in your case.  Ballots left blank are not votes cast, so they would not prevent a majority.

RONR does not have "run-offs".  You would have a second ballot, but it would not be limited to the top candidates.  In fact it would even be in order to reopen nominations, if desired.