About Voting Rules in Prompts

When a prompt is sent to a single recipient, the result of the prompt is the return value from that recipient's choice. However, when a prompt is sent to multiple recipients, you must select a vote-counting method to determine the result of the prompt and include a Voting Rule (VOTINGRULE) parameter in your event action definition.

The following table lists and describes the available voting rules.

Rule Description
Majority A choice must receive more than 50% of the vote to win. As soon as more than 50% of the recipients respond with a particular choice, that choice wins.

For example, suppose a prompt went to nine recipients. Of the first six to respond, five vote in favor. At that point, the vote is over with this option, because five votes is more than 50%. The event handler moves on, and it does not matter what the remaining three recipients do.

If you use this voting rule, you should use a Voting Tie (VOTINGTIE) parameter to tell the system how to handle a tied vote.
Plurality The choice with the highest number of votes wins, even if the choice does not receive more than 50% of the vote.

For example, suppose three choices are offered, and:

  • The first choice receives 24% of the vote.
  • The second choice receives 43% of the vote.
  • The third choice receives the remaining 33% of the vote.

In this case, the second choice wins, even though the votes received are less than 50% of the total vote.

If you use this voting rule, you should use a Voting Tie (VOTINGTIE) parameter to tell the system how to handle a tied winning vote.
Conditional Plurality The choice with the highest number of votes wins, but only if a specified minimum percentage of votes is reached.

If you use this rule, you must also include a Minimum Percentage (MINIMUM) parameter.

For example, if three choices are offered to 19 recipients, and you specify a minimum percentage of 40% to win, then:

  • In an 8-7-4 split, the choice with eight votes wins because this choice meets the minimum percentage.
  • In a 7-6-6 split, there are no winners, because no choice meets the minimum percentage. In this case, the system must deal with the vote as an indeterminate result.

With a simple Plurality vote, the choice that reaches seven votes in a 7-6-6 split wins.

If you use this voting rule, you should use a Voting Tie (VOTINGTIE) parameter or Voting Disparity (VOTINGDISPARITY) parameter to tell the system how to handle the vote.
Minimum Count The first choice to reach a specified minimum number of votes wins.

If you use this rule, you must also include a Minimum Count (MINIMUM) parameter.

For example, if three choices are offered to 13 recipients, and you specify a minimum of five votes to win, the first choice to receive five votes automatically wins.

Note: As soon as the minimum count is reached, event handler execution moves immediately to the next action. In this case, the system expires any responses not yet received, and no further voting can take place.
Minimum Percentage The first choice to receive a specified percentage of the vote wins. The percentage is based on the number of recipients of the prompt, not the number of respondents.

If you use this rule, you must also include a Minimum Percentage (MINIMUM) parameter.

Note: As soon as the minimum percentage is reached for a choice, event handler execution moves immediately to the next action. In this case, the system expires any responses not yet received, and no further voting can take place.
Earliest Response

The first response to the prompt wins, regardless of the choice.

Note: As soon as the first response is received, event handler execution moves immediately to the next action. In this case, the system expires any responses not yet received, and no further voting can take place.
Preferred Choice If any one respondent votes for the preferred choice, that choice wins. In a case where none of the respondents select the preferred choice, then this rule behaves as the Plurality rule for the remaining choices.

If you use this rule, you should also include a Preferred Choice (PREFCHOICE) parameter to specify which choice is the preferred choice.

For example, if you have three choices, and you specify the first choice as the preferred choice, then:

  • If anyone votes for the first choice, that choice wins.
  • If the end vote is a 0-6-5 split, the second choice wins.
Note: As soon as the preferred choice receives a vote, event handler execution moves immediately to the next action. In this case, the system expires any responses not yet received, and no further voting can take place.
Minimum Count Preferred Choice If a specified number of votes for a specified choice is cast, that choice wins. If you use this rule, you must also include a Minimum (MINIMUM) parameter to specify the minimum count, and a Preferred Choice (PREFCHOICE) parameter to specify which is the preferred choice.

For example, if you set the Minimum to 3 for a Preferred Choice of Approve, and three recipients respond with Approve, the preferred choice wins. If less than that number of votes are cast for that choice after all recipients have responded, the vote reverts to Plurality. In that case, the preferred choice may win.

Note: When you set the Minimum to 1, this rule behaves as a Preferred Choice.
Minimum Percentage Preferred Choice If a specified percentage of votes for a specified choice is cast, that choice wins. If you use this rule, you must also include a Minimum (MINIMUM) parameter to specify the minimum percentage, and a Preferred Choice (PREFCHOICE) parameter to specify which is the preferred choice.

For example, if you set the Minimum to 25% for a Preferred Choice of Approve, and two of eight of recipients respond with Approve, the preferred choice wins. If less than that percentage of votes are cast for that choice after all recipients have responded, the vote reverts to Plurality. In that case, the preferred choice may win.
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