In a multi-seat election using the Droop quota, if there are 500 total valid votes and 4 seats, what is the quota?

In a multi-seat election using the Droop quota, if there are 500 total valid votes and 4 seats, what is the quota?

• A. 101
• B. 126
• C. 100
• D. 111

Answer: (A)

In a multi-seat election, the Droop quota is the number of votes a candidate needs to be certain of being elected. It’s calculated as floor(total valid votes ÷ (seats + 1)) + 1. Here, with 500 valid votes and 4 seats, compute 500 ÷ (4 + 1) = 100. Take the floor (still 100) and add 1 to get 101. So the quota is 101 votes. This is the threshold that determines who is elected under the Droop rule. The other numbers don’t come from this formula (they would omit the +1 or use a different divisor), so they’re not correct.

In a multi-seat election, the Droop quota is the number of votes a candidate needs to be certain of being elected. It’s calculated as floor(total valid votes ÷ (seats + 1)) + 1. Here, with 500 valid votes and 4 seats, compute 500 ÷ (4 + 1) = 100. Take the floor (still 100) and add 1 to get 101. So the quota is 101 votes. This is the threshold that determines who is elected under the Droop rule. The other numbers don’t come from this formula (they would omit the +1 or use a different divisor), so they’re not correct.