In 1982 in North Down, having transfers to 3 decimal places would have made a difference to the result.
On the final count, Bleakes of the UUP beat the second Kilfedderite by 5.81 votes. On the second count Kilfedder had a surplus of 7889 and 13736 transferable papers, which transferred at a value of 0.57. If these had been to three decimal places, they’d have transferred at 0.574. It would have resulted in 23.21 votes extra for Green and 1.67 more for Bleakes. The third count, involving John Taylor’s surplus, received from Kilfedder, would have widened the gap further.
1975 in the same constituency is a probable. Brookeborough of the UPNI beat Oliver of the UUP by 20.24 votes, however there were 20.64 votes worth of surpluses undistributed at the end. John Taylor UUP had a surplus of 15 votes (out of 7238 first prefs) and the UUP’s Charles Poots had a surplus of 5.64, which originated from an Alliance batch of 2646 votes. (Unionists threatened legal action over the result, but the returning officer correctly argued that, at the transfer values, it wouldn’t have made a difference.)
First count Kilfedder’s 21245 transferable papers transfer at 0.681 and second count, Green’s 5164 transferable papers go at 0.162. Oliver gains 9.683 votes over Brookeborough and the UUP have about 5600 Kilfedder transfers from the first count compared to 3600 with SDLP/Alliance/UPNI. There’s probably just enough there to edge Oliver ahead of the UPNI.
In 1982 in North Down, having transfers to 3 decimal places would have made a difference to the result.
On the final count, Bleakes of the UUP beat the second Kilfedderite by 5.81 votes. On the second count Kilfedder had a surplus of 7889 and 13736 transferable papers, which transferred at a value of 0.57. If these had been to three decimal places, they’d have transferred at 0.574. It would have resulted in 23.21 votes extra for Green and 1.67 more for Bleakes. The third count, involving John Taylor’s surplus, received from Kilfedder, would have widened the gap further.
1975 in the same constituency is a probable. Brookeborough of the UPNI beat Oliver of the UUP by 20.24 votes, however there were 20.64 votes worth of surpluses undistributed at the end. John Taylor UUP had a surplus of 15 votes (out of 7238 first prefs) and the UUP’s Charles Poots had a surplus of 5.64, which originated from an Alliance batch of 2646 votes. (Unionists threatened legal action over the result, but the returning officer correctly argued that, at the transfer values, it wouldn’t have made a difference.)
First count Kilfedder’s 21245 transferable papers transfer at 0.681 and second count, Green’s 5164 transferable papers go at 0.162. Oliver gains 9.683 votes over Brookeborough and the UUP have about 5600 Kilfedder transfers from the first count compared to 3600 with SDLP/Alliance/UPNI. There’s probably just enough there to edge Oliver ahead of the UPNI.