Voting methods affect group decision-making

When groups of people need to reach a decision, they will often take a straw poll to test opinions before the official vote. New research from the University of Washington shows that one specific voting method proved more effective than others in identifying the best choice. In a study published Sept. 28 in Academy of Management Discoveries, researchers found that groups that used -multivoting- in unofficial votes were 50% more likely to identify the correct option than those that used plurality or ranked-choice voting. Multivoting gives people several votes to allocate across all options. The reality show -American Idol- uses multivoting, giving fans 10 votes each. They can use all 10 for their favorite contestant or split their votes among two or more.