Questions: Before a conference, a panel of participants voted on the topic for the keynote address. The choices were (G)lobal Warming, (P)overty, (E)conomy, (T)echnology, and (F)oreign Policy. The votes are summarized in the preference table shown. What topic is selected using the plurality-with-elimination method? Number of Votes 15 6 12 5 2 1st G E T P E 2nd P P F T F 3rd E T E F T 4th F F P E P 5th T G G G G Select the winner below - Foreign Policy - Technology - Global Warming - Poverty - Economy

The answer is Global Warming.

To determine the winner using the plurality-with-elimination method, we follow these steps:

1. Count the first-choice votes for each topic:

   • Global Warming (G): 15 votes
   • Economy (E): 6 + 2 = 8 votes
   • Technology (T): 12 votes
   • Poverty (P): 5 votes
   • Foreign Policy (F): 0 votes

2. Identify if any topic has a majority (more than half of the total votes):

   • Total votes = 15 + 6 + 12 + 5 + 2 = 40
   • A majority would require more than 20 votes (half of 40).

   None of the topics have more than 20 votes, so we proceed to elimination.

3. Eliminate the topic with the fewest first-choice votes:

   • Foreign Policy (F) has 0 first-choice votes, so it is eliminated.

4. Redistribute the votes of the eliminated topic:

   • Since Foreign Policy has no first-choice votes, no redistribution is needed.

5. Repeat the process:

   • Recount the first-choice votes for the remaining topics:

     • Global Warming (G): 15 votes
     • Economy (E): 8 votes
     • Technology (T): 12 votes
     • Poverty (P): 5 votes

   • Eliminate Poverty (P) with 5 votes.

6. Redistribute the votes of the eliminated topic (Poverty):

   • The 5 votes for Poverty go to Technology (T) as the second choice in that column.

7. Recount the first-choice votes:

   • Global Warming (G): 15 votes

   • Economy (E): 8 votes

   • Technology (T): 12 + 5 = 17 votes

   • Eliminate Economy (E) with 8 votes.

8. Redistribute the votes of the eliminated topic (Economy):

   • The 6 votes for Economy go to Poverty (P) as the second choice, but since Poverty is eliminated, they go to Technology (T) as the third choice.
   • The 2 votes for Economy go to Foreign Policy (F) as the second choice, but since Foreign Policy is eliminated, they go to Technology (T) as the third choice.

9. Recount the first-choice votes:

   • Global Warming (G): 15 votes

   • Technology (T): 17 + 6 + 2 = 25 votes

   • Technology (T) now has 25 votes, which is more than half of the total votes (40).

Therefore, the topic selected using the plurality-with-elimination method is Technology.