Voting Systems Toolbox - Instructions

Here is how to use the software. It assumes that you have java working, downloaded the software, have an input file that you want to process and have a DOS or shell window open in the appropriate directory.

In the examples, you will see something like:

java -cp Vote-0-4.jar VoteMain -system stv-meek -seats 3 examples/colours-cand.csv

There are two parts to this:

java -cp Vote-0-4.jar VoteMain

just tells java to run the VoteMain package from the Vote-0-4.jar file. This is the same each time the program is run. The second part:

-system stv-meek -seats 3 examples/colours-cand.csv

is a list of command line switches specifying such things as the voting system and the input file, in this case specifying that STV is to be used to select 3 candidates and colours-cand.csv in the folder examples is to be used as the input file.

Here is a table of all the parameters:

Switch Required? Meaning

-system name
yes
This is one of:

stv-meek for Single Transferable Vote
stvse-meek for Single Transferable Vote (Successive Elimination)

-seats number
yes for the system stv-meek The number of candiates to be elected. For stvse-meek, this option may be given with the parameter ordered.

-input filename
yes

-input is optional The input file which the votes are to be read from. The -input is optional as the first parameter without a switch specifying what it is will be used as the input file.

-output filename
  no

-output is optional The input file which the results are to be written to. If not specified, output will be written to the screen. The -output is optional as the second parameter without a switch specifying what it is will be used as the output file.

-logfile filename
no The file to write any logging, progress or error information to. If not specified, this will get written to the screen.

-debug
  no Whether or not to print full working and debugging information. Warning: this can be verbose

-log
  no Whether or not to print logging information. This is recommended

-min-ranks number
  no How many candidates each voter must rank. Defaults to 1

-nostrict-legal
  no Only logs certain types of voting irregularites rather than giving an error

-nostrict-min-ranks
  no Only logs a voter ranking insufficient candidates rather than giving an error (in a future version of the software, that vote will not be counted)

Switch	Required?	Meaning
-system name	yes	This is one of: stv-meek for Single Transferable Vote stvse-meek for Single Transferable Vote (Successive Elimination)
-seats number	yes for the system stv-meek	The number of candiates to be elected. For stvse-meek, this option may be given with the parameter ordered.
-input filename	yes -input is optional	The input file which the votes are to be read from. The -input is optional as the first parameter without a switch specifying what it is will be used as the input file.
-output filename	no -output is optional	The input file which the results are to be written to. If not specified, output will be written to the screen. The -output is optional as the second parameter without a switch specifying what it is will be used as the output file.
-logfile filename	no	The file to write any logging, progress or error information to. If not specified, this will get written to the screen.
-debug	no	Whether or not to print full working and debugging information. Warning: this can be verbose
-log	no	Whether or not to print logging information. This is recommended
-min-ranks number	no	How many candidates each voter must rank. Defaults to 1
-nostrict-legal	no	Only logs certain types of voting irregularites rather than giving an error
-nostrict-min-ranks	no	Only logs a voter ranking insufficient candidates rather than giving an error (in a future version of the software, that vote will not be counted)