Class Ballot

java.lang.Object

org.episteme.social.politics.Ballot

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

public final class Ballot
extends Object
implements Serializable

Represents a cast ballot in an election, supporting various voting methods. A ballot can capture multiple decision points (e.g., President, Governor), and for each, it supports single choices, ranked lists of preferences, or ratings. Integrated with the persistence system and uses Real for internal scores.

Since:

1.0

Version:

2.1

Author:

Silvere Martin-Michiellot, Gemini AI (Google DeepMind)

See Also:

• Serialized Form

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor	Description
Ballot(String voterId, Map<String, List<String>> selections, Map<String, Map<String,Real>> ratings)	Primary constructor.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
String	getTopChoice(String electionId)	Retrieves the top choice for a given election.
static Ballot	rankedChoice(String voterId, String electionId, List<String> rankings)	Creates a ranked-choice ballot for a specific election.
static Ballot	ratedChoice(String voterId, String electionId, Map<String,Double> scores)	Creates a cardinal/rating ballot for a specific election from double values.
Map<String, Map<String,Real>>	ratings()
Map<String, List<String>>	selections()
static Ballot	singleChoice(String voterId, String electionId, String choice)	Creates a simple single-choice ballot for a specific election.
String	toString()
String	voterId()

Methods inherited from class Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Details

Ballot

public Ballot(String voterId,
 Map<String, List<String>> selections,
 Map<String, Map<String,Real>> ratings)

Primary constructor.

Method Details

singleChoice

public static Ballot singleChoice(String voterId,
 String electionId,
 String choice)

Creates a simple single-choice ballot for a specific election.

Parameters:

voterId - Identifier of the voter

electionId - The decision point ID (e.g., "PRESIDENT_2026")

choice - The selected candidate or choice

Returns:

A new Ballot instance

rankedChoice

public static Ballot rankedChoice(String voterId,
 String electionId,
 List<String> rankings)

Creates a ranked-choice ballot for a specific election.

Parameters:

voterId - Identifier of the voter

electionId - The decision point ID

rankings - Ordered list of candidates (index 0 is top preference)

Returns:

A new Ballot instance

ratedChoice

public static Ballot ratedChoice(String voterId,
 String electionId,
 Map<String,Double> scores)

Creates a cardinal/rating ballot for a specific election from double values.

Parameters:

voterId - Identifier of the voter

electionId - The decision point ID

scores - Map of Candidate -> Score (double)

Returns:

A new Ballot instance

voterId

public String voterId()

selections

public Map<String, List<String>> selections()

ratings

public Map<String, Map<String,Real>> ratings()

getTopChoice

public String getTopChoice(String electionId)

Retrieves the top choice for a given election.

Parameters:

electionId - the ID of the election

Returns:

the top candidate name, or null if none

toString

public String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class Object