"*****They do include ""candidates that have already won"" in non-STV systems, however.  This is the ""Wasted vote effect,"" which is probably worthy of its own article.  Waste is minimized in STV systems, and this particular aspect of waste happens to be reduced to zero.  Also, including wasted and exhausted ballots is done for some elections using computer programs.  See this countback: http://davischoicevoting.org/countback/ackerman/Vacancy%20Round.htm - The 350 ballots that went to elect James Ackerman, along with the 327 exhausted ballots, would have elected replacement Leticia Miller.  Both were from the same party.  Note that the 327 ""exhausted"" ballots includes the wasted ballots - in this case those listing James and the other winners at the very bottom and those portions that transfered in surplus from them to end up in the exhausted pile after their candidates didn't win.  Note the total votes counted here is 677.61073, although 224.38833 become exhausted again after the initial winners are excluded and candidates start getting defeated since they don't list Leticia or her closest competitor.  Note that some systems don't allow for early exhausted ballots, and exhausted ballots are by necessity wasted. To some degree, there really isn't a meaningful distinction between wasted and exhausted ballots in STV, since STV systems can't waste a ballot by putting more than a quota's worth of votes into a particular candidate - therefore the only wasted votes left are those in the exhaust pile after quotas are filled.  It is interesting that the Australians intentionally don't count the exhausted pile when computing a replacement candidate - this has the effect of ensuring the same votes will remain wasted (and the same people unrepresented), however it also has the effect of making it more certain that the replacement candidate will resemble the original.  Note that the Australian method isn't possible in systems that allow incomplete preference listings if you wish the replacement candidate to represent a full quota - it's virtually guaranteed that at least one of the votes during the countback will exhaust itself before a new candidate is chosen, and if you're only using a quota's worth of votes (those of the original winner), you will by necessity have less than a quota.   

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