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Definitions

bullet voting
Reducing the number of alternatives you express a preference for, or give some rating to.  This is a type of burying strategy.

burying
Insincerely ranking an alternative lower in the hope of defeating it.

circular preferences
pairwise majorities in the expressed or actual opinions of voters that are inconsistent.

clones
A set of alternatives, X[1], X[2], .. X[m] is a clone set provided that for
every alternative Z, where Z is not one of X[1], .. X[m], the following is true:
Every ballot that ranks Z higher than one of X[1] .. X[m] ranks Z higher than all of them.  Every ballot that ranks Z lower than one of them, ranks Z lower than all of them.  No ballot ranks Z equal to any of them.
As well, there must be at least one alternative outside the set of clones, and at least two alternatives in the set of clones.

compromising
Insincerely ranking an alternative higher in the hope of getting it elected.

Condorcet winner
An alternative that pairwise beats every other alternative.  "Condorcet" is a proper noun, and should be capitalized.

cycle
A path from an alternative to itself.  For example A > B, B > C, C > A

eliminate
Remove an alternative from consideration for winning and having further effect on the process being used.

fratricide
When the pairwise victories between members of a twin set result in an alternative from outside the set being elected.  This is a type of vote-splitting.

insincere
A vote that does not correspond to the voters true preference.  This correspondence is defined by the method. The word is not meant to imply that this is necessarily a dishonest way to vote.

majority
More than half.

monotonicity
The property of a method where an alternative can never be made to succeed by being ranked lower on some ballots.  Doing this is using the "push-over" strategy.

non-monotonicity
The property of a method that does not have monotonicity.

pairwise matrix
A table showing for every pair of alternatives, how many voted the alternative corresponding to the row over the alternative corresponding to the column.

pairwise victory
X has a pairwise victory over Y if more voters rank X over Y than Y over X.

path
A sequence of pairwise victories such that the winner of each victory after the first is the same alternative as the loser in the previous.
Example
A > B, B>C, C>D

proportional representation
Parties having representation in a legislature in proportion to the number of their voters in the election.

push-over
The strategy of ranking a weak alternative higher than one's preferred alternative, which may be useful in a method that violates monotonicity.

rank ballot
A ballot that allows the voter to order the candidates with regard to preference, but does not allow the voter to show extent of preference.

ratings ballot
A ballot that allows the voter to rate the extent of their preference for each candidate.

sincere
A vote that corresponds to the voters true preference.  This correspondence is defined by the method.

Smith set
The smallest non-empty set of alternatives such that every alternative in the set pairwise beats every alternative outside the set.

sophisticated vote
An insincere vote that is more likely to lead to a favorable outcome based on the electoral method and the information known to the voter.

strategic nominating
Using the nominating process to gain advantage.  In particular, using vote-splitting, teaming, and crowding strategies.

strategic vote
An insincere vote that the voter thinks is more likely to lead to a favorable outcome.  In particular, using compromising, burying, and push-over strategies.

teaming
an ideology being helped by having more candidates running for it

truncate
To insincerely leave unranked alternatives who will therefore be counted as equal and lower than all ranked alternatives.  This is one type of burying strategy.

twins
see clones.

vote-splitting
When multiple similar alternatives are defeated because their support is not concentrated on one of them.

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