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MEMOIR
ON ELECTIONS BY BALLOT
By M. de Borda
It is a generally accepted opinion, and one against which I do not recall anyone ever having raised objections, that in an election by ballot, the plurality of votes always indicates the will of the electors—that is to say, that the candidate who obtains this plurality is necessarily the one whom the electors prefer to his competitors. But I am going to show that this opinion, which is true in the case where the election is between only two candidates, can lead to error in all other cases.
