Simplified ranked voting

Guidelines

List your options, one per column. List your group members, one per line. After having discussed your options, get each member to cast multiple votes per option.

Each voter must vote for three options. The option they consider the best for the group gets 7 votes. The next option gets 5 votes. The last gets 3 votes. This forces voters to weigh the various options carefully since no one can pick a favorite and leave it at that.

Total up the columns to get a handle on how much support each option has at any given time. Often there will be an obvious break between a few options that have a lot of support, and the rest which have very little support.

This method could be used to thin down a large number of options to a manageable number. It should be used only after people understand what the various options are, or misunderstood options will artificially float or sink.