Instructions

Carefully read through the project objectives and activities an ensure your solution correctly meets the objectives.

Note: Submission of any ChatGPT $-$ generated code or segment of code will result in total score of $10\%$ of the total score for this project

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Project Objectives:

Read Votes from File

Create a function to read the votes from the "casted$\_$votes" file and organize them for counting.

Count Votes per Candidate and Write Results to File

Implement a function to count the number of votes cast for each candidate in the read vote data and write the results into the "counted$\_$votes" file.

Check for Simple Majority

Develop a method to determine if any candidate in the first$-$choice list receives more than $50\%$ of the votes.

Identify Equal Votes

Implement a function to check if all candidates in the first$-$choice list have an equal number of votes.

Ranked Choice Voting Algorithm $($RCV$)$

Write a function that executes the RCV algorithm using the read vote data:

If a candidate gets more than $50\%$ of the first$-$choice votes, declare that candidate as the winner.

If no candidate has a majority, eliminate the candidate with the fewest votes and redistribute their votes to the next available choices.

Continue eliminating candidates until a winner with a majority is determined.

Steps to Implement:

Read Votes from File

Create functions to read the votes from the "casted$\_$votes" file.

Vote Counting and Writing Results to File

Implement functions to tally the votes for each candidate based on the read file data and write the results into the "counted$\_$votes" file.

Majority Determination

Develop a function to check if any candidate has a simple majority in the read vote data.

Elimination and Redistribution

Write a function to eliminate the candidate with the fewest votes and redistribute those votes to the next available choices based on the read vote data.

Loop for RCV Process

Implement a loop to execute the RCV process until a winner is determined using the read vote data.

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Note:

$1.$ Each of the objectives carries maximum score of $6$

$2.$ Total score for this project $=6*5=>30$

$3.$ Project submission date is Sunday, $14$th April, $2024$ @ $11$:$59$pm

$4.$ Submission format: Python script $($with $.$py extension$)$

$5.$ Project defense date: The date and time scheduled for the written examination for this course

$6.$ Defense Order: To be decided by the course Lecturer

Example $($Apology; there was an error in the elimination process in the example which has now been corrected$)$

Suppose there are $5$ candidates $($A$,$ B$,$ C$,$ D$,$ E$)$ and $20$ voters who rank them as follows:

$6$ voters rank: A $>$ B $>$ C $>$ D $>$ E

$5$ voters rank: B $>$ C $>$ A $>$ D $>$ E

$4$ voters rank: C $>$ B $>$ D $>$ A $>$ E

$3$ voters rank: D $>$ E $>$ C $>$ B $>$ A

$2$ voters rank: E $>$ D $>$ C $>$ B $>$ A

In the first round of counting, the votes are tallied:

A receives $6$ votes

B receives $5$ votes

C receives $4$ votes

D receives $3$ votes

E receives $2$ votes

Since no candidate has a majority $($more than half of the total votes$),$ the candidate with the fewest votes $($E$)$ is eliminated. Their votes are then redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the next available choice on each ballot:

The $2$ voters who ranked E first now have their votes redistributed to D$.$

C has $4$ votes and it is eliminated. The $4$ voters who ranked C $>$ B $>$ D $>$ A $>$ E now have their votes redistributed to B

The $5$ voters who ranked B $>$ C $>$ A $>$ D $>$ E already have their votes counted for B$.$

After redistributing the votes, the tallies are:

A: $6$ votes

B: $9$ votes

C: $0$ votes

D: $5$ votes

E: $0$ votes

D now has the fewest number of votes and is eliminated. The $5$ voters who rank D $>$ E $>$ C $>$ B $>$ A now have their votes redistributed to B

Final counts: A: $6,$ B: $14,$ C: $0,$ D: $0,$ E: $0$

Now, B has the most votes $(14$ out of $20$ remaining votes after eliminating D$),$ so B wins the election.