title: Single transferable vote

text: In the fifth round, Candidate A2 is eliminated with all their votes going to the candidate A4, the last remaining candidate from Party A, who is elected. The surplus votes of Candidate A4 are transferred. All the voters who helped elect Candidate A4 prefer the independent candidate to the candidates of the other party so their 3% surplus votes will go to Candidate I in the sixth round.


title: Single transferable vote

text: There are now only four candidates remaining and three seats remaining open. The least popular candidate (Candidate B1) is eliminated. There are now only three candidates in the race, so they are automatically declared elected regardless of whether they reached the quota. If there is no reason to establish relative popularity of the elected members, the count ends there when the last seats are declared filled.


title: Single transferable vote

text: If the ranking of the candidates is important, the votes belonging to Candidate B1 might be transferred as per below, assuming voters' alternate preferences are marked that way.


title: Single transferable vote

text: This vote count varies from the reality of many STV systems because there were no "exhausted" non-transferable votes. In most real-life STV elections, some votes that are set to be transferred cannot be and the number of votes still in play at the end is lower than the number of votes cast and counted in the 1st round. As well, the Droop quota is usually used in real-life STV elections. With the Droop quota in effect and five seats, it would have taken 17 percent to be elected with quota, not 20 percent as under the Hare quota.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In this case, as in all STV elections, about 80 percent or more of the votes were used to actually elect someone. A majority of the members elected in the district represent the sentiments of a majority of the voters.


title: Single transferable vote

text: This result differs from the one that would have occurred if the voting system used had been non-PR, such as single non-transferable vote (SNTV), first-past-the-post (FPTP) in five districts, first-past-the-post at-large general ticket voting (as used to elect members of the U.S. electoral college), or a single-winner majoritarian system in five districts


title: Single transferable vote

text: This result is different than if all voters could only vote for their first preference, which is called the single non-transferable vote. Under SNTV, the five candidates most popular when only first preferences are considered were candidates A2, A3, B1, B2 and B3. This means even though Party B's candidates had less support together, they would have received 60% of seats, and Party A only 40%. In this case, Party A overextended themselves by fielding too many candidates, but even if they had strategically nominated only three, they would not necessarily have been successful in gaining three seats instead of two seats, because one or two of their candidates might have taken the lion share of their party votes, leaving not enough for the other(s) to be elected. This could be addressed under SNTV if the party voters used coordinated strategic voting.


title: Single transferable vote

text: If voters could vote for five candidates (but not cast ranked votes)) as under the plurality block voting system, a type of multiple non-transferable vote, Party A could have won all seats, leaving Party B and voters of the independent candidate without representation. This is because if all voters of Party A voted for all five of the Party A candidates, every Party A candidate would have been among the five candidates with the most votes and would have been declared elected. That would have meant that Party A with support of only 48 percent of voters would have had all the representation.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Under majority block voting, if voters voted along party lines, every Party A candidate would have received a vote from 48 percent of the voters, and some even up to 55% if voters of Candidate I also voted for some Party A candidates with their 4 other votes. At the same time, Party B's candidates could only get up to 52% of the votes with the same tactics. If the voters are partisan enough, the likely outcome is that party A would take all the seats although Party A took less than half the votes (minority representation) and all other votes are wasted.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In single-winner systems, whether First past the post or majoritarian, the outcome is uncertain. It likely would be that Party A with 48 percent of the votes might achieve a clean sweep of all five seats or easily Party A might take four of the five with Party B taking just one. (The first case would have been achieved by Party B votes being cracked by the district boundaries; the second case would have been achieved by Party B voters being mostly packed into just one district, leaving Party A with easy victories in the other four districts.) On the other hand if districts were drawn in different fashion, Party A and Party B might have divided the seats in a three to two ratio. Even under certain circumstances, the Independent candidate might take a seat if their supporters are sufficiently concentrated in one district.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV election results are roughly proportional (as much as the number of seats allows) and take into account more than the first preferences of voters. Under STV (as seen in the example above), when it comes to secondary preferences, some voters who like a candidate from a certain party best might prefer an independent (or even a rival party candidate) before other candidates of their first choice's party. This means that even if it seems that some faction (based on first preferences) is over-represented or under-represented in the outcome, the outcome actually closely adheres to a combination of the first preferences of many voters and secondary preferences of most of the other voters. Under STV, about 80 percent of voters see their vote actually used to elect someone they prefer (and even more than that portion see someone they prefer elected even if their vote itself was not used to elect anyone), while under FPTP, often less than half of the votes are used to elect anyone and only the largest group in each district is represented.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is the single-winner analogue of STV. It is also called "single-winner ranked-choice voting". Its goal is representation of a majority of the voters in a district by a single official, as opposed to STV's goals of not only the representation of a majority of voters through the election of multiple officials but also of proportional representation of all the substantial voting blocks in the district.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Single non-transferable vote (SNTV) produces much the same representation as STV, without the work and complication of preferential ballots and vote transfers. Single voting in a multiple-member district produces mixed roughly proportional representation, which STV's vote transfers sometimes does not alter. (An example was the election of Edmonton, Alberta, MLAs through STV in 1930. The winners were the same under STV as would have been elected under SNTV.)


title: Single transferable vote

text: The spare vote is a version of single transferable voting applied to the ranking of parties, first proposed for elections in Germany in 2013. The spare vote system includes the step of transferring the votes of eliminated choices to the next-indicated choice, but it does not transfer surplus votes.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The mixed ballot transferable vote (MBTV) is a mixed version of STV, where voters may rank both candidates and parties, even both interchangeably, depending on the ballot type, but must choose at least a local (district) candidate (1st preference) and a national list (2nd preference). The list preferences are used if the vote is unused in the district election, which may use FPTP, IRV or STV rules; in the STV case, the vote is transferred to another tier in favour of the chosen party list. This is in contrast to the mixed single vote, which is implemented in various countries, where voters may not define a separate party-list preference.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Two-vote MMP and additional member system systems may also be interpreted as a related, effectively preferential mixed system, but the vote transfer mechanism as under STV does not exist in it or plays a minor role.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Indirect single transferable voting is a non-ranked-vote version of STV. Single voting in a multi-seat district is retained. Voters do not mark their ballots with rankings, but votes are transferred, as needed, based on the eliminated or elected candidate's pre-set instructions. This is a useful system to achieve many of the benefits of STV in districts where it is difficult to collect all the ballots in one central place to conduct STV transfers or where X voting is preferred over ranked voting due to voters' inability or disinterest in ranking candidates. Once known as the Gove system, or the schedule system of PR, it was invented by Massachusetts legislator William H. Gove of Salem and Archibald E. Dobbs of Ireland, author of "Representative Reform for Ireland" (1879). (STV with group ticket Voting also conducts transfers without reference to alternate preferences marked by voters.) In 1884, Charles L. Dodgson (Lewis Caroll) argued for a proportional representation system based on multi-member districts similar to indirect STV, with each voter casting only a single vote, quotas as minimum requirements to take seats, and votes transferable by candidates through what is now called liquid democracy. The difference from "indirect STV" is that under liquid democracy, candidates and members may transfer votes after the votes are cast to build coalitions; they do not have to publish their list beforehand.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The modified d'Hondt electoral system is a variant of STV, where an electoral threshold for parties is applied.


title: Single transferable vote

text: When single transferable voting is used for single-winner elections, it produces a system that is formally called instant-runoff voting.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV uses preferential votes cast in multi-seat districts, but some use the term "preferential voting" when they are talking only about instant-runoff voting. "Preferential voting" can also refer to a broader category, ranked voting systems. In the United States, STV is sometimes also called preferential voting, choice voting, preference voting, multi-winner ranked choice voting, and proportional ranked-choice voting.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV used for multi-winner elections is sometimes called "proportional representation through the single transferable vote", or PR-STV or STV-PR (in Scotland). "STV" usually refers to the multi-winner version, as it does in this article.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In STV, each voter casts just one vote although multiple seats are to be filled in the district. Voters mark first preference and can provide alternate preferences to be used if needed. In practice, the candidates' names are usually organized in columns so that voters are informed of the candidates' party affiliations or whether they are standing as independents.


title: Single transferable vote

text: They may indicate their preferences by ranking the candidates in order of preference. They would use ordinal numbers (1. 2. 3. etc.) to show this.


title: Single transferable vote

text: An alternative way to mark preferences for candidates is to use columns for the voters' preference with the name of each candidate appearing in each column. The first column is used to indicate first preference. An X there goes beside the most preferred candidate. The next column is for the second preference. An X there marks the second-preference candidate, etc.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Some balloting systems allow ticket voting, where a voter simply indicates preference for a party slate, sometimes even ranking party slates, instead of marking preferences for individual candidates.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Some systems declare a ballot spoiled if it is not marked with a minimum amount of preferences. In the ballot for the ACT election, voters are told they must mark at least five preferences if the ballot is to be counted. Sometimes a voter is allowed to mark just their first preference (plump) and not mark any more. Rules vary. Even where alternate preferences are marked, in some cases they may not be consulted at all, such as if the first preference candidate is elected at the end of the count to fill the last seat.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In most STV elections, a quota is established to ensure that all elected candidates are elected with approximately equal numbers of votes. In some STV varieties, votes are totalled, and a quota (the minimum number of votes that guarantees election) is derived. Those who are elected are the most popular, so quota does not affect that. Some say that the importance of quota is to set the amount of votes that are surplus; that is, the amount that should be transferred away from successful candidates.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In some implementations, a quota is simply set by lawany candidate receiving a given number of votes is declared elected, with surplus transferred away. Something like this system was used in New York City from 1937 to 1947. Under such a system, the number of representatives elected varies from election to election with voter turnout. In the 1937 New York City Council election, 26 councillors were elected; in the 1939 New York City Council election, newspapers reported that it was expected that the number of councillors would drop to 17 due to lower voter turnout.


title: Single transferable vote

text: A more common formula sets quota as a percentage of the votes cast. A four-seat district using the Hare quota sets quota as 25 percent of the valid votes; a four-seat district using the Droop quota sets the quota as one more than 20 percent of the valid votes.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Once a quota is determined, candidates' vote tallies are consulted. If at any time a candidate achieves the quota, they are declared elected. Then if there are still unfilled seats, in some STV systems, any surplus votes (those over and above the quota) are transferred to other candidates in proportion to the next-highest preference marked on the ballots received by that candidate, if any.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Usually one or more candidates achieve quota in the first count. If there are still unfilled seats after the surplus is transferred, the count would proceed with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated. Their votes would be transferred to other candidates as determined by those voters' next preference, if any. Elections and eliminations, and vote transfers where applicable, continue until enough candidates are declared elected to fill the open seats or until there are only as many remaining candidates as there are unfilled seats, at which point the remaining candidates are declared elected. These last candidates may be elected without surpassing quota, but their survival until the end is taken as proof of their general acceptability by the voters.


title: Single transferable vote

text: An STV election count starts with a count of each voter's first choice, recording how many for each candidate, calculation of the total number of votes and the quota and then taking the following steps:


title: Single transferable vote

text: When the number of votes transferred from the losing candidate with the fewest votes is too small to change the ordering of remaining candidates, no transfer is made or more than one candidate is eliminated simultaneously. In most systems, once a candidate has been eliminated or elected, they do not receive any more votes.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV systems primarily differ in how they transfer surplus votes and in the size of the quota. For this reason, it has been suggested that STV can be considered a family of voting systems rather than a single system.


title: Single transferable vote

text: If fair results are to be produced and the number of candidates is fixed, a quota must be set such that any candidate who receives that many votes is elected. The quota, if used, must be set at a level where no more candidates can reach quota than there are seats to be filled. It cannot be so small that more candidates can be elected than the number of open seats, but the smaller it is, the fairer the result. There are several ways to specify quotas.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The Droop quota is the one most commonly used. It is generally considered to be the absolute lowest number that elects the correct number of candidates to fill the available seats, at least based on the original number of votes cast.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The Droop quota is an extension of the majoritarian principle of requiring a 50% + 1 majority in single-winner elections under instant-runoff voting. Using Droop means 25% plus 1 is the quota in a three-seat contest because no more than three people can each have 25% of the vote + 1; using Droop means 10% of the vote + 1 is the quota in a nine-seat district because no more than nine people can each have 10% of the vote + 1, and so on.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Droop being relatively low means that the largest party, if it has majority of votes, is likely to take the majority of the seats in a district.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The Hare quota was used in the original proposals by Thomas Hare. It is larger than the Droop and sometimes ensures greater representation to less-popular parties within a district. But also, being larger than Droop, Hare presents more of an obstacle to small parties that hope to take just one seat. Being smaller than Hare, the Droop quota may give a seat to a small party that does not have the votes to take a seat under Hare.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV minimizes wasted votesvotes cast for a candidate with no chance of winning. Votes cast for a winning candidate are sometimes transferred to the voter's next choice candidate, who is also preferred by the voter. (Any vote is only used once but may be allocated to different candidates along the way until it finds its final place.) Most first-count votes cast for a candidate who wins in the end is never transferred – just the surplus votes are transferred (unless all seats are already filled). Alternate preferences are only consulted if the candidate is unpopular or elected, and not always then. Votes lie where they are when the last seats filled so even under STV not all votes are used to elect someone.


title: Single transferable vote

text: There are variations in the conduct of transfers in different variations of STV, such as how to transfer surplus votes from winning candidates and whether to transfer votes to already-elected candidates.


title: Single transferable vote

text: It can happen that a vote is eligible to be transferred but cannot be because it bears no subsequent preference for any remaining candidate. In the case of transfers of surplus votes, an "exhausted" vote remains with the victorious candidates and only transferable votes (votes bearing a usable alternate preference) are used to determine the transfer of the surplus. If the number of transferable votes is less than the number of the surplus, no calculations are needed to make the transfer. Transfer of the transferable votes is done simply by reference to subsequent preference on the votes. Not all the surplus will be transferred if there are not enough transferable votes.


title: Single transferable vote

text: If the variation of STV used allows transfers to candidates already elected, when a candidate is eliminated and the next preference on the ballot shows preference for a candidate already elected, votes are transferred to already victorious candidate, forming a new surplus. The new surplus votes for the victorious candidate (transferred from the eliminated candidate) are then transferred to the next preference of the victorious candidate, as happened with their initial surplus, but just using the recently transferred votes as guide. Vote transfers from the victorious candidate to a candidate who has been eliminated are impossible, and reference must be made to the next marked preference, if any. See for details.


title: Single transferable vote

text: A quota set lower than Droop is sometimes workable. If fractional votes are used in an STV method, the Droop quota may be modified so that the fraction is not rounded down.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Frank Britton, of the Election Ballot Services at the Electoral Reform Society, observed that the final plus one of the Droop quota is not needed; the exact quota is then simply formula_3. Without fractional votes, the equivalent integer quota may be written:


title: Single transferable vote

text: In any case, in most STV elections the appearance of non-transferable votes means that the quota could be lowered significantly during the counting of the vote with no danger of having too many elected.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In STV, vote transfers are of two typestransfers of votes of eliminated candidates and transfers of surplus votes of elected candidates. The first type happens more often than the second type. Surplus votes are transferred only after a candidate is elected and then only if there are still open seats to be filled and if the transfers may affect the ranking of the remaining candidates.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Transfers of votes of eliminated candidates is done simply, without the use of complex math. The next usable preference on the vote gives the destination for the transfer of the vote. If there is no usable preference on the ballot, the vote goes to the "exhausted" or non-transferable pile.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The transfer of surplus votes of an elected candidate may be very simply done or may be done more or less intricately, depending on the circumstances and the choice of the government or election officials.


title: Single transferable vote

text: It can happen that a vote is set to be transferred but cannot be because it bears no subsequent preference for any remaining candidate. In transfers of surplus votes, any non-transferable votes are left with the elected candidate.


title: Single transferable vote

text: If the number of transferable votes is less than the surplus, the transfer of surplus votes can be performed just as it is done in the case of transfer of votes of eliminated candidates, the only difference being that non-transferable votes remain with the elected candidate. They do not go to the exhausted pile. Transfer of the transferable votes is done in these cases simply by reference to the next usable preference on the vote.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In cases where the number of transferable votes is more than the surplus, a more-involved method is needed in order to make the transfer proportional and to ensure that the quota left with the successful candidate is proportional as well. But election officials here have a choice of using simpler methods or more involved methods.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The basic formula for how to transfer surplus votes when there are more transferable votes than the surplus to be transferred is:


title: Single transferable vote

text: As well, not considering later preferences when transferring votes may influence later transfers and are thought of as being random, so instead some places use systems that break down the elected candidate's votes into many separate piles separating the various combinations of marked preferences on the ballots.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In some STV variants, such as those used in the Republic of Ireland (except Senate elections), Malta, and elsewhere, merely the next preference is examined. Votes are transferred as whole votes. Any randomness may arise from the later preferences, if any, that may have to be used later. But choosing the votes at random from the pile means that each transfer should be mixed and likely closely resembles the composition of the entire pile.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The Gregory method (also known as Newland–Britain or Senatorial rules) eliminates randomness by examining all the preferences marked on ballots, the later preferences dictate how later transfers, if any, will go. They transfer votes as fractions of votes. Gregory is in use in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland (Senate elections) and in Australia. Both Gregory and earlier methods have the problem that in some circumstances they do not treat all votes equally. For this reason Meek's method, Warren's method and the Wright system have been invented. As well, there are variants named the inclusive Gregory method (IGM) and the weighted inclusive Gregory method (WIGM).


title: Single transferable vote

text: Meek in 1969 was the first to realize that computers make it possible to count votes in way that is conceptually simpler and closer to the original concept of STV. One advantage of Meek's method is that the quota is adjusted at each stage of counting when the number of votes decreases because some become non-transferable. Meek also considered a variant on his system which allows for equal preferences to be expressed. This has subsequently (since 1998) been used by the John Muir Trust for electing its trustees.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The concept of transferable voting was first proposed by Thomas Wright Hill in 1819. The system remained unused in public elections until 1855, when Carl Andræ proposed a transferable vote system for elections in Denmark, and his system was used in 1856 to elect the Rigsraad and from 1866 it was also adapted for indirect elections to the second chamber, the Landsting, until 1915.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Although he was not the first to propose transferable votes, the British barrister Thomas Hare is generally credited with the conception of STV, and he may have independently developed the idea in 1857. Hare's view was that STV should be a means of "making the exercise of the suffrage a step in the elevation of the individual character, whether it be found in the majority or the minority." In Hare's original system, he further proposed that electors should have the opportunity of discovering which candidate their vote had ultimately counted for, to improve their personal connection with voting. At the time of Hare's original proposal, the UK did not use the secret ballot, so not only could the voter determine the ultimate role of their vote in the election, the elected MPs would have been able to determine who had voted for them. As Hare envisaged that the whole House of Commons be elected "at large" this would have replaced geographical constituencies with what Hare called "constituencies of interest" – those people who had actually voted for each MP. In modern elections, held by secret ballot, a voter can discover how their vote was distributed by viewing detailed election results. This is particularly easy to do using Meek's method, where only the final weightings of each candidate need to be published. The elected member cannot verify who their supporters are.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The noted political essayist John Stuart Mill was a friend of Hare's and an early proponent of STV, praising it at length in his essay "Considerations on Representative Government", in which he writes: "Of all modes in which a national representation can possibly be constituted, this one affords the best security for the intellectual qualifications desirable in the representatives. At present... the only persons who can get elected are those who possess local influence, or make their way by lavish expenditure..." His contemporary, Walter Bagehot, also praised the Hare system for allowing everyone to elect an MP, even ideological minorities, but also argued that the Hare system would create more problems than it solved: "[the Hare system] is inconsistent with the extrinsic independence as well as the inherent moderation of a Parliament – two of the conditions we have seen, are essential to the bare possibility of parliamentary government."


title: Single transferable vote

text: Advocacy of STV spread throughout the British Empire, leading it to be sometimes known as "British Proportional Representation". In 1896, Andrew Inglis Clark was successful in persuading the Tasmanian House of Assembly to be the first parliament in the world elected by what became known as the "Hare-Clark electoral system", named after himself and Thomas Hare. H. G. Wells was a strong advocate, calling it "Proportional Representation".


title: Single transferable vote

text: The HG Wells formula for scientific voting, repeated, over many years, in his PR writings, to avoid misunderstanding, is Proportional Representation by the single transferable vote in large constituencies.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV in large constituencies and multiple-member districts permits an approach to the Hare-Mill-Wells ideal of mirror representation. The UK National Health Service used to elect, through the first-past-the-post system in local or regional elections, only white male general practitioners to the General Medical Council. In 1979, the UK National Health Service used STV to proportionally elect women and immigrant GPs, and specialists, to the General Medical Council.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Tasmania first used STV for election of members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1896 to 1902. In 1909, it began to be used on a permanent basis for Assembly elections. (Instant-runoff voting was used for elections to the Tasmania Legislative Council (its upper house), with some of the members elected through STV prior to 1946.)


title: Single transferable vote

text: In 1948, single transferable vote proportional representation on a state-by-state basis became the method for electing Senators to the Australian Senate. This change has led to the rise of a number of minor parties such as the Democratic Labor Party, Australian Democrats and Australian Greens who have taken advantage of this system to achieve parliamentary representation and the balance of power. From the 1984 election, group ticket voting was introduced to reduce a high rate of informal voting but in 2016, group tickets were abolished to avoid undue influence of preference deals amongst parties that were seen as distorting election results and a form of optional preferential voting was introduced.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Beginning in the 1970s, Australian states began to reform their upper houses to introduce proportional representation in line with the Federal Senate. The first was the South Australian Legislative Council in 1973, which initially used a party list system (replaced with STV in 1982), followed by the single transferable vote being introduced for the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1978, the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1987 and the Victorian Legislative Council in 2003. The single transferable vote was also introduced for the elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly after a 1992 referendum.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The term "STV" in Australia refers to the Senate electoral system, a variant of "Hare-Clark" characterized by the "above the line" group voting ticket, a party list option. It is used in the Australian upper house, the Senate, most state upper houses, the Tasmanian lower house and the Capital Territory assembly. There is a compulsory number of preferences for a vote for candidates (below-the-line) to be valid: for the Senate a minimum of 90% of candidates must be scored, in 2013 in New South Wales that meant writing 99 preferences on the ballot. Therefore, 95% and more of voters use the above-the-line option, making the system, in all but name, a party list system. Parties determine the order in which candidates are elected and also control transfers to other lists and this has led to anomalies: preference deals between parties, and "micro parties" which rely entirely on these deals. Additionally, independent candidates are unelectable unless they form, or join, a group above-the-line. Concerning the development of STV in Australia researchers have observed: "... we see real evidence of the extent to which Australian politicians, particularly at national levels, are prone to fiddle with the electoral system".


title: Single transferable vote

text: As a result of a parliamentary commission investigating the 2013 election, from 2016 the system has been considerably reformed (see 2016 Australian federal election), with group voting tickets (GVTs) abolished and voters no longer required to fill all boxes.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV was used to elect legislators in two Canadian provinces between 1920 and 1955. The cities of Edmonton and Calgary elected their MLAs through STV from 1924 to 1956, when the Alberta provincial government changed those elections to use the first-past-the-post system. The city of Winnipeg elected its MLAs through STV from 1920 to 1955, when the Manitoba provincial government changed those elections to use first-past-the-post.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Less well known is STV use at the municipal level in western Canada. Calgary and Winnipeg used STV for more than 50 years before city elections were changed to use the first-past-the-post system. Nineteen other municipalities, including the capital cities of the other three western provinces, also used STV For elections in about 100 elections during the 1918 to 1931 period.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In British Columbia, Canada, a type of STV called BC-STV was recommended for provincial elections by the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform in 2004. In a 2005 provincial referendum, it received 58 percent support and achieved a simple majority in 77 of 79 electoral districts. It was rejected for falling short of the 60 percent threshold that had been set by the BC Liberal provincial government. In a second referendum, on 12 May 2009, BC-STV was defeated 61 percent to 39 percent.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In the United States, the Proportional Representation League was founded in 1893 to promote STV, and their efforts resulted in its adoption by many city councils in the first half of the 20th century. More than twenty cities have used STV, including Cleveland, Cincinnati and New York City. As of January 2010, it is used to elect the city council and school committee in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the park board in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the board of assessors in Arden, Delaware. STV has also been adopted for student government elections at several American universities, including Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Oberlin, Reed, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Vassar, UCLA, Whitman, and UT Austin. The Fair Representation Act, introduced in Congress in June 2017, would establish STV for US House elections starting in 2022.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The table below lists countries that use STV to fill a nationally elected legislative body by direct elections.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Advocates for STV argue it is an improvement over winner-take-all non-proportional voting systems such as first-past-the-post, where vote splits commonly result in a majority of voters electing no one and the successful candidate having support from just a minority of the district voters. STV prevents in most cases one party taking all the seats and in its thinning out of the candidates in the field prevents the election of an extreme candidate or party if it does not have enough overall general appeal.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV is the system of choice of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia (which calls it quota-preferential proportional representation), the Electoral Reform Society in the United Kingdom and FairVote in the USA (which refers to STV as fair representation voting and instant-runoff voting as "ranked-choice voting", although there are other preferential voting methods that use ranked-choice ballots).


title: Single transferable vote

text: The degree of proportionality of STV election results depends directly on the district magnitude (i.e. the number of seats in each district). While Ireland originally had a median district magnitude of five (ranging from three to nine) in 1923, successive governments lowered this. Systematically lowering the number of representatives from a given district directly benefits larger parties at the expense of smaller ones.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Supposing that the Droop quota is used: in a nine-seat district, the quota or threshold is 10% (plus one vote); in a three-seat district, it would be 25% (plus one vote). This electoral threshold is significantly higher than for most party-list PRs.


title: Single transferable vote

text: A parliamentary committee in 2010 discussed the "increasing trend towards the creation of three-seat constituencies in Ireland" and recommended not less than four-seaters, except where the geographic size of such a constituency would be disproportionately large.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV provides proportionality by transferring votes to minimize waste, and therefore also minimizes the number of unrepresented or disenfranchised voters.


title: Single transferable vote

text: A frequent concern about STV is its complexity compared with single-mark voting methods, such as plurality voting or party-list proportional representation. Before the advent of computers, this complexity made ballot-counting more difficult than in other methods, though Winnipeg used it to elect ten MLAs in seven elections (1920-1945).


title: Single transferable vote

text: The algorithm is complicated, particularly if Gregory or another fractional-vote method is used. In large elections with many candidates, a computer may be required. (This is because after several rounds of counting, there may be many different categories of previously transferred votes, each with a different permutation of early preferences and thus each with a different carried-forward weighting, all of which have to be kept track of.)


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV differs from other proportional representation systems in that candidates of one party can be elected on transfers from voters for other parties. Hence, STV may reduce the role of political parties in the electoral process and corresponding partisanship in the resulting government. A district only needs to have four members to be proportional for the major parties, but may under-represent smaller parties, even though they may well be more likely to be elected under STV than under first-past-the-post.


title: Single transferable vote

text: As STV is a multi-member system, filling vacancies between elections can be problematic, and a variety of methods have been devised:


title: Single transferable vote

text: If there are not enough candidates to represent one of the priorities the electorate vote for (such as a party), all of them may be elected in the early stages, with votes being transferred to candidates with other views. On the other hand, putting up too many candidates might result in first-preference votes being spread too thinly among them, and consequently several potential winners with broad second-preference appeal may be eliminated before others are elected and their second-preference votes distributed. In practice, the majority of voters express preference for candidates from the same party in order, which minimizes the impact of this potential effect of STV.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The outcome of voting under STV is proportional within a single election to the collective preference of voters, assuming voters have ranked their real preferences. Due to other voting mechanisms usually used in conjunction with STV, such as a district or constituency system, an election by STV does not guarantee proportionality across all districts.


title: Single transferable vote

text: A number of methods of tactical or strategic voting exist that can be used in STV elections but much less so than with first-past-the-post elections. In STV elections, most constituencies will be marginal, at least with regard to the allocation of a final seat. Manipulating STV requires knowledge of the contents of all the ballots, effectively only being possible after the ballots are counted; and discovering the correct votes to cast to manipulate the outcome strategically is NP-complete.


title: Single transferable vote

text: While STV generally does not satisfy the Condorcet criterion, Condorcet method variants like Schulze STV and CPO-STV do.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Critics contend that some voters find the mechanisms behind STV difficult to understand, but this does not make it more difficult for voters to rank the list of candidates in order of preference on an STV ballot paper (see ).


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV systems vary, both in ballot design and in whether or not voters are obliged to provide a full list of preferences.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In jurisdictions such as Malta, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, voters may rank as many or as few candidates as they wish. Consequently, voters sometimes, for example, rank only the candidates of a single party, or of their most preferred parties. A minority of voters, especially if they do not fully understand the system, may even "bullet vote", only expressing a first preference, or indicate a first preference for multiple candidates, especially when both STV and plurality are being used in concurrent elections.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Allowing voters to rank only as many candidates as they wish grants them greater freedom, but can also lead to some voters ranking so few candidates that their vote eventually becomes "exhausted"– that is, at a certain point during the count, it can no longer be transferred and influence the result. Some are non-transferable because the choices marked have already been elected, so the voter may be pleased with the overall election result even though their first preference was not elected and their vote itself was not used to elect anyone. Even if a voter marks many alternate preferences, the vote may still be found to be non-transferable, if at any point the vote needs to be transferred and all the preferences listed next have already been eliminated or elected. But the number of non-transferable votes is fewer than the number of ignored votes under first-past-the-post and the number of effective votes, votes actually used to elect someone, is higher than under all but the most landslide first-past-the-post election contests.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The STV method may be confusing to some and may cause some people to vote incorrectly with respect to their actual preferences.


title: Single transferable vote

text: STV ballots can also be long; having multiple pages increases the chances of people not marking multiple preferences and thus missing later opportunities to have their vote transferred. After a vote is transferred twice, is at the end of the count and three candidates remain in the running for the last seat, the voter may have little interest in the choice. None of them were the voter's first choice, nor their second or third preference. And perhaps the voter has already seen one or two of their earlier choices already elected. Many votes up for transfer are found to be non-transferable in the last vote transfers. One to three members at the end are often elected with partial quotas, due to the number of exhausted votes. In STV elections, a majority of votes are used to elect the members who are elected.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Some opponents argue that larger, multi-seat districts would require more campaign funds to reach the voters. Proponents argue that STV can lower campaign costs because like-minded candidates can share some expenses. Proponents reason that negative advertising is disincentivized in such a system, as its effect is diluted among a larger pool of candidates.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In addition, candidates do not have to secure the support of the largest voting block to be elected as under FPTP. STV ensures that each substantial group gets at least one seat, allowing candidates to focus campaign spending primarily on supportive voters. Under STV, it is not necessary to be the most popular candidate in the district to be elected; it is only necessary to have quota (or survive to the end when the remaining candidates are declared elected). To have quota, you do not need support from across the district necessarily. If a corner of the district has a quota worth of votes and the voters there support a candidate, that candidate will be elected and there is nothing the others elsewhere in the district can do about it. So, at least theoretically, you would not need to campaign across the district.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The larger, multi-member constituencies can result in less, rather than more, representation of local communities within the electoral district. The representatives could potentially all be from one part of the region, leaving other communities without representation.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Furthermore, STV requires multi-member districts (MMDs). It is thus impossible to use MMDs in the Scottish Highlands to elect member of the UK Parliament where only one member is elected. To create an MMD in a sparsely-settled area, an electoral district would have to cover a large area just to capture the required population to be represented by multiple members. There can be a greater disconnect between the voter, or community, and their representatives. If areas with low population density were using multi-member districts to elect the relatively few high-level members of Parliament in Scotland or of the UK Parliament, constituencies could become so large as to seem to be impractical. However, Scotland successfully uses multiple-member regions in its Scottish Parliament elections and STV in its local authority elections. The large number of LA or Scottish Parliament members allows the creation of MMDs without having each district cover too large an area. Meanwhile, MMDs even of immense size can be used successfully. In New South Wales, Australia, the whole state elects 21 members of the upper house in one single STV contest and has done so since 1991.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Academic analysis of voting systems such as STV generally centres on the voting system criteria that they pass. No preference voting system satisfies all the criteria in Arrow's impossibility theorem: in particular, STV fails to achieve independence of irrelevant alternatives (like most other vote-based ordering systems) and monotonicity.


title: Single transferable vote

text: The relative performance of political parties in STV systems is sometimes analysed in a different fashion from that used in other electoral schemes. For example, seeing which candidates are declared elected on first-preference votes alone in the 2012 Scottish local elections, where 1223 members were elected, can be shown as follows:


title: Single transferable vote

text: The data can also be analysed to find the proportion of voters who express only a single preference, or those who express a minimum number of preferences, to assess party strength. Where parties nominate multiple candidates in an electoral district, analysis can also be done to assess their relative strength.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Other useful information can be found by analysing terminal transfersi.e., when the votes of a candidate are transferred and no other candidate from that party remains in the countespecially with respect to the first instance in which that occurs:


title: Single transferable vote

text: The transfers of votes under STV mean that candidates who did well on first-preference votes in the first count (but not well enough to be immediately declared elected) may not be elected in the end, and those who did poorly on the first count may be elected in the end. This is due to transfers made according to second and later preferences. This can also be analysed, again using the 1223 members elected in the Scottish local elections. Some of the leading candidates in the first count were not elected but, comparing the number to the total number of members elected in these elections, the successful candidates were mostly set in the first count (through the simple mechanics of single voting in multi-member districts), before any vote transfers are done. About ten percent or less of the front runners in the first count were not elected in the end.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Sixty-eight of the elected members, of the overall 1,223 successful candidates, were not already in winning position in the first count, thus showing that vote transfers merely put a polish on the first-count ranking of candidates established through single voting in multi-seat district.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Thus, of 1223 seats filled in 2012, only 68 were filled by candidates who were not in top three or four spots in the 1st Count. Therefore, transfers changed the outcome of only about 6 percent of the spots. Single non-transferable vote would have provided the same results in great majority of cases.


title: Single transferable vote

text: Looking at the 2020 Irish election where members of Dáil Éireann, known as TDs (Dáil deputies), were elected by single transferable vote from 39 constituencies, each with between three and five seats, members were elected under STV with about the same number of votes and that a large proportion of votes cast in each district were used to actually elect someone. Most elected members were elected by achieving the quota. Thus they were elected by receiving approximately the same number of votes. The few elected without quota received a number of votes close to quota as well. A large proportion of the votes were used to elect someone, with relatively few being wasted. Perhaps one full quota or less is not used to elect someone.


title: Single transferable vote

text: In Cambridge, Massachusetts, under STV in 2021, 90 percent of voters saw their vote help to elect a candidate, more than 65 percent of voters saw their first choice candidate elected, and more than 95 percent of voters saw one of their top three choices elected.


title: Courier

text: A courier is a person or organisation that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are government or state agency employees (for example: a diplomatic courier).


title: Courier

text: Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of express services, and swift delivery times, which are optional for most everyday mail services. As a premium service, couriers are usually more expensive than standard mail services, and their use is normally limited to packages where one or more of these features are considered important enough to warrant the cost.


title: Courier

text: Courier services operate on all scales, from within specific towns or cities, to regional, national and global services. Large courier companies include DHL, DTDC, FedEx, EMS International, TNT, UPS, India Post, J&T Express and Aramex. These offer services worldwide, typically via a hub and spoke model.


title: Courier

text: Couriers services utilizing courier software provide electronic proof of delivery and electronic tracking details.


title: Courier

text: In ancient history, messages were hand-delivered using a variety of methods, including runners, homing pigeons and riders on horseback. Before the introduction of mechanized courier services, foot messengers physically ran miles to their destinations. Xenophon attributed the first use of couriers to the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger.


title: Courier

text: Famously, the Ancient Greek courier Pheidippides is said to have run 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to bring the news of the Greek victory over the Persians in 490 BCE. The long-distance race known as a marathon is named for this run.


title: Courier

text: Judah's king, Hezekiah, dates between 200-400 BCE, where several couriers brought letters throughout the land of Judah and Israel (cf. 2 Chron 30 ESV).


title: Courier

text: Starting at the time of Augustus, the ancient Greeks and Romans made use of a class of horse and chariot-mounted couriers called "anabasii" to quickly bring messages and commands long distances. The word "anabasii" comes from the Greek "αναβασις" ("adscensus", "mounting"). They were contemporary with the Greek "hemeredromi", who carried their messages by foot.


title: Courier

text: In Roman Britain, Rufinus made use of anabasii, as documented in Saint Jerome's memoirs ("adv. Ruffinum", l. 3. c. 1.): "Idcircone Cereales et Anabasii tui per diversas provincias cucurrerunt, ut laudes meas legerent?" ("Is it on that account that your Cereales and Anabasii circulated through many provinces, so that they might read my praises?")


title: Courier

text: In the Middle Ages, royal courts maintained their own messengers who were paid little more than common labourers.


title: Courier

text: In cities, there are often bicycle couriers or motorcycle couriers but for consignments requiring delivery over greater distance networks, this may often include trucks, railroads and aircraft.


title: Courier

text: Many companies which operate under a just-in-time or "JIT" inventory method often use on-board couriers (OBCs). On-board couriers are individuals who can travel at a moment's notice anywhere in the world, usually via commercial airlines. While this type of service is the second costliest—general aviation charters are far more expensive—companies analyze the cost of service to engage an on-board courier versus the "cost" the company will realize should the product not arrive by a specified time (an assembly line stopping, untimely court filing, lost sales from product or components missing a delivery deadline, loss of life from a delayed organ transplant).


title: Courier

text: The courier business in Australia is a very competitive industry and is mainly concentrated in the high population areas in and around the capital cities. With such a vast mass of land to cover the courier companies tend to transport either by air or by the main transport routes and national highways. The only large company that provides a country-wide service is Australia Post.


title: Courier

text: International courier services in China include TNT, EMS International, DHL, FedEx and UPS. These companies provide nominal worldwide service for both inbound and outbound shipments, connecting China to countries such as the US, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Of the international courier services, the Dutch company TNT is considered to have the most capable local fluency and efficacy for third- and fourth- tiered cities. EMS International is a unit of China Post, and as such is not available for shipments originating outside of China.


title: Courier

text: Domestic courier services include SF Express, YTO Express (圆通), E-EMS (E邮宝) and many other operators of sometimes microscopic scales. E-EMS, is the special product of a co-operative arrangement between China Post and Alipay, which is the online payment unit of Alibaba Group. It is only available for the delivery of online purchases made using Alipay.


title: Courier

text: Within the Municipality of Beijing, TongCheng KuaiDi (同城快递), also a unit of China Post, provides intra-city service using cargo bicycles.


title: Courier

text: International courier services in India include DHL, FedEx, Blue Dart Express, Ekart, DTDC, VRL Courier Services, Delhivery, TNT, Amazon.com, OCS and Gati Ltd. Apart from these, several local couriers also operate across India. Almost all of these couriers can be tracked online. India Post, an undertaking by the Indian government, is the largest courier service with around 155 thousand branches (comprising 139 thousand (90%) in rural areas and 16 thousand (10%) in urban areas). All couriers uses the PIN code or postal index number introduced by India Post to locate delivery address.


title: Courier

text: International courier services in Malaysia include DHL, FedEx, Pgeon, Skynet Express, ABX Express, GDex, Pos Laju, J&T Express, and Amazon.com. Apart from these, several local couriers also operate across Malaysia. Almost all of these couriers can be tracked online. Malaysia Post an undertaking by the Malaysia Government is the largest courier service with around 155 thousand branches (comprising 139 thousand (90%) in rural areas and 16 thousand (10%) in urban areas). All couriers uses the PIN code or postal index number introduced by India Post to locate delivery address.


title: Courier

text: The main courier services available in Ireland as alternatives to the national An Post system are Parcel Direct Ireland, SnapParcel (No longer in operation), DHL, UPS, TNT, DPD and FedEx.


title: Courier

text: There are several international courier companies in Singapore including TNT, DHL and FedEx. Despite being a small country, demand is high for courier services. Many local courier companies have sprung up to meet this demand. Most courier companies in Singapore focus on local deliveries instead of international freight.


title: Courier

text: The genus of the UK same-day courier market stems from the London Taxi companies but soon expanded into dedicated motorcycle despatch riders with the taxi companies setting up separate arms to their companies to cover the courier work. During the late 1970s small provincial and regional companies were popping up throughout the country. Today, there are many large companies offering next-day courier services, including Speedy Freight, DX Group, UKMail and UK divisions of worldwide couriers such as FedEx, DHL, Hermes Group, Global Express Courier, UPS and TNT City Sprint.


title: Courier

text: There are many 'specialist' couriers usually for the transportation of items such as freight/pallets, sensitive documents and liquids.


title: Courier

text: The 'Man & Van'/Freelance courier business model, is highly popular in the United Kingdom, with thousands upon thousands of independent couriers and localised companies, offering next-day and same day services. This is likely to be so popular because of the low business requirements (a vehicle) and the lucrative number of items sent within the UK every day. In fact, from 1988 to 2016, UK couriers were considered universally self employed, though the number of salaried couriers employed by firms has grown substantially since then. However, since the dawn of the electronic age the way in which businesses use couriers has changed dramatically. Prior to email and the ability to create PDFs, documents represented a significant proportion of the business. However, over the past five years, documentation revenues have decreased by 50 percent. Customers are also demanding more from their courier partners. Therefore, more organisations prefer to use the services of larger organisations who are able to provide more flexibility and levels of service, which has led to another level of courier company, regional couriers. This is usually a local company which has expanded to more than one office to cover an area.


title: Courier

text: Some UK couriers offer next-day services to other European countries. FedEx offers next-day air delivery to many EU countries. Cheaper 'by-road' options are also available, varying from two days' delivery time (such as France), to up to a week (former USSR countries).


title: Courier

text: Large couriers often require an account to be held (and this can include daily scheduled collections). Senders are therefore primarily in the commercial/industrial sector (and not the general public); some couriers such as DHL do however allow public sending (at higher cost than regular senders).


title: Courier

text: In recent years, the increased popularity of Black Friday in the UK has placed some firms under operational stress.


title: Courier

text: The process of booking a courier has changed, it is no longer a lengthy task of making numerous calls to different courier companies to request a quote. Booking a courier is predominantly carried out online. The courier industry has been quick to adapt to our ever-changing digital landscape, meeting the needs of mobile and desktop consumers as well as e-commerce and online retailers. Offering end users access to instant online payments, parcel tracking, delivery notifications, and the convenience of door to door collection and delivery to almost any destination in the world.


title: Courier

text: The courier industry has long held an important place in United States commerce and has been involved in pivotal moments in the nation's history such as westward migration and the gold rush. Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 and rapidly became the preeminent package delivery company. The company specialised in shipping gold, packages and newspapers throughout the West, making a Wells Fargo office in every camp and settlement a necessity for commerce and connections to home. Shortly afterward, the Pony Express was established to move packages more quickly than the traditional stagecoach. It illustrated the demand for timely deliveries across the nation, a concept that continued to evolve with the railroads, automobiles and interstate highways and which has emerged into today's courier industry.


title: Courier

text: The courier industry in United States is a $59 billion industry, with 90% of the business shared by DHL, FedEx, UPS and USA Couriers. On the other hand, regional and/or local courier and delivery services were highly diversified and tended to be smaller operations; the top 50 firms accounted for just a third of the sector's revenues. USPS is mail or packages delivered by the government and are the only ones who can legally ship to mailboxes.


title: Courier

text: In a 2019 quarterly earnings call, the CEO of FedEx named Amazon as a direct competitor, cementing the e-commerce company's growth into the field of logistics.


title: Rubicon

text: It was known as Fiumicino until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC.


title: Rubicon

text: The river flows for around from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the south of the Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena.


title: Rubicon

text: The Latin word comes from the adjective , meaning "red". The river was so named because its waters are colored red by iron deposits in the riverbed.


title: Rubicon

text: During the Roman Republic, the Rubicon marked the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul and Italy proper, controlled directly by Rome and its (allies), to the south. On the north-western side, the border was marked by the river Arno, a much wider and more important waterway, which flows westward from the Apennine Mountains (the Arno and the Rubicon rise not far from each other) into the Tyrrhenian Sea.


title: Rubicon

text: In 49 BC, perhaps on January 10, Julius Caesar led a single legion, Legio XIII Gemina, south over the Rubicon from Cisalpine Gaul to Italy to make his way to Rome. In doing so, he deliberately broke the law limiting his , making armed conflict inevitable. Suetonius depicts Caesar as undecided as he approached the river, and attributes the crossing to a supernatural apparition. It was reported that Caesar dined with Sallust, Hirtius, Gaius Oppius, Lucius Cornelius Balbus, and Servius Sulpicius Rufus on the night after his crossing.


title: Rubicon

text: According to Suetonius, Caesar uttered the famous phrase ('the die is cast') upon crossing the Rubicon, signifying that his action was irreversible. The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is now used to refer to committing irrevocably to a grave course of action, similar to the modern phrase "passing the point of no return". The presence of Caesar and his legion in Italy forced Pompey, the consuls, and a large part of the senate to flee Rome. Caesar's victory in the subsequent civil war ensured that he would never be punished for his actions.


title: Rubicon

text: After Caesar's crossing, the Rubicon was a geographical feature of note until about 42 BC, when Octavian merged the Province of Cisalpine Gaul into Italia and the river ceased to be the extreme northern border of Italy. The decision robbed the Rubicon of its importance, and the name gradually disappeared from the local toponymy.


title: Rubicon

text: After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and during the first centuries of the Middle Ages, the coastal plain between Ravenna and Rimini was flooded many times. The Rubicon, like other small rivers of the region, often changed its course during this period. For this reason, and to supply fields with water after the revival of agriculture in the late Middle Ages, during the 14th and 15th centuries, hydraulic works were built to prevent other floods and to regulate streams. As a result of this work, these rivers started to flow in straight courses, as they do today.


title: Rubicon

text: With the revival during the fifteenth century of interest in the topography of ancient Roman Italy, the matter of identifying the Rubicon in the contemporary landscape became a topic of debate among Renaissance humanists. To support the claim of the Pisciatello, a spurious inscription forbidding the passage of an army in the name of the Roman people and Senate, the so-called "Sanctio", was placed by a bridge on that river. The Quattrocento humanist Flavio Biondo was deceived by it; the actual inscription is conserved in the Museo Archeologico, Cesena. As the centuries went by, several rivers of the Adriatic coast between Ravenna and Rimini have at times been said to correspond to the ancient Rubicon.


title: Rubicon

text: The "Via Aemilia" (modern SS 9) still follows its original Roman course as it runs between the hills and the plain; it would have been the obvious course to follow as it was the only major Roman road east of the Apennine Mountains leading to and from the Po Valley. Attempts to deduce the original course of the Rubicon can be made only by studying written documents and other archaeological evidence such as Roman milestones, which indicate the distance between the ancient river and the nearest Roman towns.


title: Rubicon

text: The mile zero of a Roman road, from which distances were counted, was always the crossing between the Cardo and the Decumanus, the two principal streets in every Roman town, running north–south and east–west respectively. In a section of the Tabula Peutingeriana, an ancient document showing the network of Roman roads, a river in northeastern Italy labeled ""fl. Rubicu"" is shown at a position 12 Roman miles () north of Rimini along the coastline; this is the distance between Rimini and a place called "Ad Confluentes," drawn west of the Rubicon, on the Via Aemilia. However, the river-bed shape observed in Pisciatello and the Rubicon river in the present day, well below Roman-age soil layers, is likely to indicate that any possible course modification of rivers could have occurred only very close to the coastline, and therefore only slight.


title: Rubicon

text: Furthermore, the features of the present-day Rubicon river (north–south course, orthogonal to the Via Aemilia) and the Via Aemilia itself (a straight reach before and after the crossing, and a turn just passing by , so marking a possible administrative boundary) are common to typical geographical oriented limits of Roman age, being what made this a clue of actual identification of the present-day Rubicon River with the Fiumicino.


title: Rubicon

text: In 1933, after various efforts that spanned centuries, the Fiumicino, which crossed the town of Savignano di Romagna (now Savignano sul Rubicone), was officially identified as the former Rubicon. Strong evidence supporting this theory came in 1991, when three Italian scholars (Pignotti, Ravagli, and Donati), after a comparison between the Tabula Peutingeriana and other ancient sources (including Cicero), showed that the distance from Rome to the Rubicon River was 200 Roman miles. Key elements of their work are:


title: Rubicon

text: Today there is no visible, material evidence of Caesar's historical passage. Savignano sul Rubicone is an industrial town and the river has become one of the most polluted in the Emilia-Romagna region. Exploitation of underground waters along the upper course of the Rubicon has reduced its flow—it was a minor river even during Roman times (""parvi Rubiconis ad undas"" as Lucan said, "to the waves of [the] tiny Rubicon")—and has since lost its natural route, except in its upper course, between low and woody hills.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, and starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The black-and-white film was shot in Superscope and in the film noir style. Daniel Mainwaring adapted the screenplay from Jack Finney's 1954 science fiction novel "The Body Snatchers". The film was released by Allied Artists Pictures as a double feature with the British science fiction film "The Atomic Man" (and in some markets with "Indestructible Man").


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The film's storyline concerns an extraterrestrial invasion that begins in the fictional California town of Santa Mira. Alien plant spores have fallen from space and grown into large seed pods, each one capable of producing a visually identical copy of a human. As each pod reaches full development, it assimilates the physical traits, memories, and personalities of each sleeping person placed near it until only the replacement is left; these duplicates, however, are devoid of all human emotion. Little by little, a local doctor uncovers this "quiet" invasion and attempts to stop it.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The slang expression "pod people" that arose in late 20th-century U.S. culture refers to the emotionless duplicates seen in the film. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was selected in 1994 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: A psychiatrist, Dr. Hill, is called to the emergency room of a Los Angeles hospital, where a highly agitated man is being held in custody. The man identifies himself as a doctor, and recounts, in flashback, the events leading up to his arrest and arrival at the hospital.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: In the nearby town of Santa Mira, Dr. Miles Bennell sees a number of patients apparently suffering from Capgras delusion, the belief that their relatives have been replaced with identical-looking impostors. Returning from a trip, he meets his former girlfriend, Becky Driscoll, who has recently come back to town after a divorce. Becky's cousin Wilma expresses the same fear about her Uncle Ira, with whom she lives.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: That evening, Miles and Becky are urgently called to the home of Bennell's friend, Jack Belicec, who has found what appears to be a dead body in his home. Inexplicably, it has no discernible facial features or fingerprints. To their horror, within a short period of time it begins to take on the exact physical features of Belicec. Later, another body is found in Becky's basement that is her exact duplicate. When Bennell calls psychiatrist Dr. Dan Kauffman to the scene, the bodies have mysteriously disappeared.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The following night, Bennell, Becky, Jack, and Jack's wife Teddy again find duplicates of themselves, emerging from giant seed pods in Bennell's greenhouse. They conclude that the townspeople are being replaced while asleep with exact physical copies. Bennell tries to make a long-distance call to federal authorities, but the phone operator claims that the lines are all busy and he cannot be put through, so Jack and Teddy drive off to seek help in the next town. Bennell and Becky soon realize that all of the town's inhabitants have been replaced and are devoid of any sort of humanity. They hide at Bennell's office for the night, vowing to stay awake so as not to be replaced by their duplicates.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The next morning, truckloads of the giant pods arrive in the town center. They listen as police chief Nick Grivett directs the others to take them to neighboring towns to be planted and used to replace their populations. Kauffman and Belicec, both of whom are now also "pod people", arrive at Bennell's office with new pods for Becky and Bennell. They reveal that an extraterrestrial life form is responsible for the invasion. After their takeover, humanity will lose all emotions and sense of individuality, creating a simplistic, stress-free world.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: After scuffling with and knocking out the aliens (Kauffman, Belicec, and Grivett), Bennell and Becky escape from the office. Outside, they pretend to be emotionless pod people. After seeing a dog dart out into traffic, Becky screams and her reaction exposes their humanity. A town alarm is sounded and the couple flee on foot, pursued by the pod people.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Exhausted, they manage to escape and hide in an abandoned mine outside town, struggling to stay awake. Later, they hear music, and Bennell leaves Becky briefly to investigate. Over a hill, he sees a large greenhouse farm with hundreds of giant seed pods being loaded onto trucks. Bennell returns to tell Becky. Upon kissing her, Bennell realizes, to his horror, that she fell asleep before he returned and is now one of "them". Becky sounds the alarm as Bennell runs away. He is again chased, and eventually finds himself on a crowded highway. After seeing a transport truck bound for San Francisco and Los Angeles filled with the pods, he frantically screams at the passing motorists, "They're here already! You're next! You're next!"


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Back at the hospital, Bennell finishes his story. Dr. Hill and the on-duty doctor step outside the room, the latter expressing his certainty that Bennell is psychotic. Just then, a truck driver is wheeled into the hall on a gurney after having been badly injured in an accident. It turns out that the man had to be dug out from under a load of giant pods coming from Santa Mira. Finally believing Bennell's story, Dr. Hill alerts the police to block the roads in and out of Santa Mira; the film ends with Bennell relieved as Hill calls the Federal Bureau of Investigation.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Jack Finney's novel ends with the extraterrestrials, who have a life span of no more than five years, leaving Earth after they realize that humans are offering strong resistance, despite having little reasonable chance against the alien invasion.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was originally scheduled for a 24-day shoot and a budget of US$454,864. The studio later asked Wanger to cut the budget significantly. The producer proposed a shooting schedule of 20 days and a budget of $350,000.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Initially, Wanger considered Gig Young, Dick Powell, Joseph Cotten, and several others for the role of Miles. For Becky, he considered casting Anne Bancroft, Donna Reed, Kim Hunter, Vera Miles, and others. With the lower budget, however, he abandoned these choices and cast Richard Kiley, who had just starred in "The Phenix City Story" for Allied Artists. Kiley turned the role down and Wanger cast Kevin McCarthy, an Academy Award nominee five years earlier for "Death of a Salesman", and relative newcomer Dana Wynter, who had done several major dramatic roles on television.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Future director Sam Peckinpah had a small part as Charlie, a meter reader. Peckinpah was a dialogue coach on five Siegel films in the mid-1950s, including this one.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Originally, producer Wanger and Siegel wanted to film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" on location in Mill Valley, California, the town just north of San Francisco, that Jack Finney described in his novel. In the first week of January 1955, Siegel, Wanger, and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring visited Finney to talk about the film version and to look at Mill Valley. The location proved too expensive, and Siegel with Allied Artist executives, found locations resembling Mill Valley in the Los Angeles area, including Sierra Madre, Chatsworth, Glendale, Los Feliz, Bronson, and Beachwood Canyons, all of which went on to make up the fictional town of "Santa Mira" for the film. In addition to these outdoor locations, much of the film was shot in the Allied Artists studio on the east side of Hollywood.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was shot by cinematographer Ellsworth Fredericks in 23 days between March 23 and April 27, 1955. The cast and crew worked a six-day week with Sundays off. The production went over schedule by three days because of the night-for-night shooting that Siegel wanted. Additional photography took place in September 1955, filming a frame story on which the studio had insisted (see Original intended ending). The final budget was $382,190.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The project was originally named "The Body Snatchers" after the Finney serial. However, Wanger wanted to avoid confusion with the 1945 Val Lewton film "The Body Snatcher". The producer was unable to come up with a title and accepted the studio's choice, "They Come from Another World" and that was assigned in summer 1955. Siegel objected to this title and suggested two alternatives, "Better Off Dead" and "Sleep No More", while Wanger offered "Evil in the Night" and "World in Danger". None of these were chosen, and the studio settled on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in late 1955. The film was released at the time in France under the mistranslated title ""L'invasion des profanateurs de sépultures"" (literally: "Invasion of the defilers of tombs"), which remains unchanged today.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Wanger wanted to add a variety of speeches and prefaces. He suggested a voice-over introduction for Miles. While the film was being shot, Wanger tried to get permission in England to use a Winston Churchill quotation as a preface to the film. The producer sought out Orson Welles to voice the preface and a trailer for the film. He wrote speeches for Welles' opening on June 15, 1955, and worked to persuade Welles to do it, but was unsuccessful. Wanger considered science fiction author Ray Bradbury instead, but this did not happen, either. Mainwaring eventually wrote the voice-over narration himself.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The studio scheduled three film previews on the last days of June and the first day of July 1955. According to Wanger's memos at the time, the previews were successful. Later reports by Mainwaring and Siegel, however, contradict this, claiming that audiences could not follow the film and laughed in the wrong places. In response the studio removed much of the film's humor, "humanity" and "quality," according to Wanger. He scheduled another preview in mid-August that also did not go well. In later interviews Siegel pointed out that it was studio policy not to mix humor with horror.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Wanger saw the final cut in December 1955 and protested the use of the Superscope aspect ratio. Its use had been included in early plans for the film, but the first print was not made until December. Wanger felt that the film lost sharpness and detail. Siegel originally shot "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Superscope was a post-production laboratory process designed to create an anamorphic print from non-anamorphic source material that would be projected at an aspect ratio of 2.00:1.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Both Siegel and Mainwaring were satisfied with the film as shot. The original ending did not include the flashback framing, and ended with Miles screaming as truckloads of pods pass him on the road. The studio, wary of a pessimistic conclusion, insisted on adding a prologue and epilogue suggesting a more optimistic outcome to the story, leading to the flashback framing. In this version, the film begins with Bennell in custody in a hospital emergency ward, telling a consulting psychiatrist (Whit Bissell) his story. In the closing scenes, pods are discovered at a highway accident, confirming Bennell's warning, and the authorities are alerted, likely stopping the pod distribution and resolving the extraterrestrial threat.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Mainwaring scripted this framing story and Siegel shot it on September 16, 1955, at the Allied Artists studio. In a later interview Siegel complained, "The film was nearly ruined by those in charge at Allied Artists who added a preface and ending that I don't like". In his autobiography Siegel added that "Wanger was very much against this, as was I. However, he begged me to shoot it to protect the film, and I reluctantly consented [...]".


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: While the Internet Movie Database states that the film had been revised to its original ending for a re-release in 1979, Steve Biodrowski of "Cinefantastique" magazine notes that the film was still being shown with the complete footage, including a 2005 screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honoring director Don Siegel.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Although most reviewers disliked it, George Turner (in "American Cinematographer") and Danny Peary (in "Cult Movies") endorsed the subsequently added frame story. Nonetheless, Peary emphasized that the added scenes changed significantly what he saw as the film's original intention.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: When the film was released domestically in February 1956, many theaters displayed several pods made of papier-mâché in theater lobbies and entrances, along with large lifelike black and white cutouts of McCarthy and Wynter running away from a crowd. The film earned more than $1 million in the first month, and in 1956 alone earned more than $2.5 million in the U.S. When the film was released in the U.K. (with cuts imposed by the British censors) in late 1956, the film earned more than a half million dollars in ticket sales.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Some reviewers saw in the story a commentary on the dangers facing the United States for turning a blind eye to McCarthyism. Leonard Maltin wrote of a McCarthy-era subtext, or of bland conformity in postwar Eisenhower-era America. Others viewed it as an allegory for the loss of personal autonomy and individualism in the Soviet Union or communist systems in general.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: For the BBC, David Wood summarized the circulating popular interpretations of the film as follows: "The sense of post-war, anti-communist paranoia is acute, as is the temptation to view the film as a metaphor for the tyranny of the McCarthy era." Danny Peary in "Cult Movies" pointed out that the studio-mandated addition of the framing story had changed the film's stance from anti-McCarthyite to anti-communist. Michael Dodd of "The Missing Slate" has called the movie "one of the most multifaceted horror films ever made", arguing that by "simultaneously exploiting the contemporary fear of infiltration by undesirable elements as well as a burgeoning concern over homeland totalitarianism in the wake of Senator Joseph McCarthy's notorious communist witch hunt, it may be the clearest window into the American psyche that horror cinema has ever provided".


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: In "An Illustrated History of the Horror Film", Carlos Clarens saw a trend manifesting itself in science fiction films, dealing with dehumanization and fear of the loss of individual identity, being historically connected to the end of "the Korean War and the well publicized reports of brainwashing techniques". Comparing "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with Robert Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly" and Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil", Brian Neve found a sense of disillusionment rather than straightforward messages, with all three films being "less radical in any positive sense than reflective of the decline of [the screenwriters'] great liberal hopes".


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Despite a general agreement among film critics regarding these political connotations of the film, actor Kevin McCarthy said in an interview included on the 1998 DVD release that he felt no political allegory was intended. The interviewer stated that he had spoken with the author of the novel, Jack Finney, who professed no specific political allegory in the work.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: In his autobiography, "I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History", Walter Mirisch writes: "People began to read meanings into pictures that were never intended. "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is an example of that. I remember reading a magazine article arguing that the picture was intended as an allegory about the communist infiltration of America. From personal knowledge, neither Walter Wanger nor Don Siegel, who directed it, nor Dan Mainwaring, who wrote the script nor original author Jack Finney, nor myself saw it as anything other than a thriller, pure and simple".


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Don Siegel spoke more openly of an existing allegorical subtext, but denied a strictly political point of view: "[...] I felt that this was a very important story. I think that the world is populated by pods and I wanted to show them. I think so many people have no feeling about cultural things, no feeling of pain, of sorrow. [...] The political reference to Senator McCarthy and totalitarianism was inescapable but I tried not to emphasize it because I feel that motion pictures are primarily to entertain and I did not want to preach". Film scholar J.P. Telotte wrote that Siegel intended for pods to be seductive; their spokesperson, a psychiatrist, was chosen to provide an authoritative voice that would appeal to the desire to "abdicate from human responsibility in an increasingly complex and confusing modern world."


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Though "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was largely ignored by critics on its initial run, Filmsite.org ranked it as one of the best films of 1956. The film holds a 98% approval rating and 9/10 rating at the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus reads: "One of the best political allegories of the 1950s, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is an efficient, chilling blend of sci-fi and horror".


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: In recent years critics such as Dan Druker of the "Chicago Reader" have called the film a "genuine Sci-Fi classic". Leonard Maltin described "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" as "influential, and still very scary". "Time Out" called the film one of the "most resonant" and "one of the simplest" of the genre. Mark Steyn described it as “a big film”, despite its limited budget.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was selected in 1994 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten" — the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres — after polling more than 1,500 people from the creative community. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was acknowledged as the ninth best film in the science fiction genre. The film was also placed on AFI's "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Thrills", a list of America's most heart-pounding films.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The film was included on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments". Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 29th scariest film ever made. IGN ranked it as the 15th best sci-fi picture. "Time" magazine included "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" on their list of 100 all-time best films, the top 10 1950s Sci-Fi Movies, and Top 25 Horror Films. In 1999, "Entertainment Weekly" listed it as the 53rd best movie of all-time. Similarly, the book "Four Star Movies: The 101 Greatest Films of All Time" placed the movie at #60.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The film was released on DVD in 1998 by U.S.-label Republic (an identical re-release by Artisan followed in 2002); it includes the Superscope version plus a 1.375:1 Academy ratio version. The latter is not the original full frame edition, but a pan and scan reworking of the Superscope edition that loses visual detail.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: DVD editions exist on the British market (including a computer colorized version), German market (as "Die Dämonischen") and Spanish market (as "La Invasión de los Ladrones de Cuerpos").


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Several Blu-ray Disc versions have been released including two bare-bones Blu-ray Disc editions by Olive Films in 2012 and German company Al!ve (under the title "Die Dämonischen") in 2018. Sinister Films released a Blu-ray in Italy on March 18, 2014. This version, under the title "L'Invasione degli Ultracorpi", contained many special features including an interview with lead actor Kevin McCarthy and the 1957 "Studio One" episode entitled "The Night America Trembled", an unreleased filmed reconstruction of the famous Orson Welles radio transmission "War of the Worlds", starring Ed Asner, James Coburn, and Warren Beatty. Olive Films subsequently released a special edition Blu-ray in 2018, containing extensive bonus features including several featurettes, two Audio Commentaries, one with film historian Richard Harland Smith and a second with actors Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, and filmmaker Joe Dante, and a 1985 archival interview with actor Kevin McCarthy.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: There have been three subsequent adaptations of "The Body Snatchers:" "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978), "Body Snatchers" (1993), and "The Invasion" (2007).


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: An untitled fourth adaptation from Warner Bros. is in development. David Leslie Johnson was signed to be the screenwriter.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: It briefly inspired "Assimilate" (2019) which is also inspired by "The Body Snatchers" of the same name.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The film was the basis for the 2013 science fiction comedy "The World's End" and it has inspired two TV series, ABC's "Invasion" (2005 TV series), Apple TV+'s "Invasion" (2021 TV series), and a subplot in Netflix's "Another Life" (2019 TV series).


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: Robert A. Heinlein had previously developed this subject in his 1951 novel "The Puppet Masters", written in 1950. "The Puppet Masters" was later plagiarized as the 1958 film "The Brain Eaters", and adapted under contract in the 1994 film "The Puppet Masters".


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: There are several thematically related works that followed Finney's 1955 novel "The Body Snatchers", including Val Guest's "Quatermass 2" and Gene Fowler's "I Married a Monster from Outer Space".


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: A Looney Tunes parody of the film was released, entitled "Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers" (1992). The adaptation was directed by Greg Ford and places Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Porky Pig in the various roles of the story.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: In 2018 theater company Team Starkid created the musical parody "The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals", the story of a Midwestern town that is overtaken by a singing alien hivemind. The musical parodies numerous horror and musical tropes, while the main character also wears within the show a suit reminiscent of Bennell's wardrobe.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The May 1981 issue of "National Lampoon" featured a parody titled "Invasion of the Money Snatchers"; the gentile population of Whiteville is taken over by pastrami sandwiches from outer space and turned into Jews.


title: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

text: The film was also parodied in the 2012 "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode "Planet of the Jellyfish" (referencing "Planet of the Vampires" and "Planet of the Apes") featuring characters from Bikini Bottom being replaced by alien clones in their sleep.


title: Al pastor

text: During the 19th century, variations of a vertically grilled meat dish, now known by several names, started to spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. The Lebanese version, shawarma, was brought to Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by a wave of Lebanese immigrants, mainly Christians such as the Maronites who have no religious dietary restrictions on eating pork. In the 1960s, Mexican-born progeny of these immigrants began opening their own restaurants and combining their heritage with Mexican cuisine. Being derived from shawarma, it is also similar to the Turkish döner kebab and the Greek gyros.


title: Al pastor

text: Pork is marinated in a combination of dried chilies, spices, pineapple, and typically achiote paste, then slowly cooked with charcoal or gas flame on a vertical rotisserie called a (), the meat is shaved off as the outside is browned, and made into tacos. Guajillo chile, garlic, cumin, clove, bay leaf, and vinegar are common ingredients, with cinnamon, dried Mexican oregano, coriander, and black peppercorns found in many variants. Meat is thinly sliced off the spit with a large knife into a small corn tortilla and served with finely chopped onions, cilantro, and diced pineapple. A wedge of lemon or lime and a salsa are optional condiments. This meat is also a common ingredient in gringas, alambres, huaraches, tortas, burritos, and pizza.


title: Al pastor

text: In some places of northern Mexico, such as Nuevo León, Durango and Chihuahua, these are usually called if served on corn tortillas, and if they are served with cheese on flour tortillas.


title: Al pastor

text: A similar dish is called , which originated in Puebla in the 1930s from Arab-Mexican cuisine. use shawarma-style meat carved from a spit, but are served in a pita-style bread called (). These tacos have been brought by Mexican immigrants to the United States in the past few years and have become popular in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, two of the largest Mexican/Mexican-American population centers in the United States.


title: Al pastor

text: A chicken version marinated in the style was brought back to the Middle East in the early 2000s, and sold as "shawarma mexici". It is typically served in the Middle Eastern style, wrapped with garlic mayonnaise, dill pickle, and french fries in a thin flatbread.


title: Chicago Fire FC

text: Chicago Fire Football Club is an American professional soccer franchise based in Chicago. The team competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference, having moved to the conference in 2002.


title: Chicago Fire FC

text: The franchise named in memory of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, was founded as the Chicago Fire Soccer Club on October 8, 1997, the Great Fire's 126th anniversary. The team began play in 1998 as one of the league's first expansion teams. The Fire won the MLS Cup as well as the U.S. Open Cup (the "double") in their first season in 1998. They also won U.S. Open Cups in 2000, 2003, and 2006, in addition to the 2003 MLS Supporters' Shield.


title: Chicago Fire FC

text: The Fire maintains an extensive development system, consisting of the Chicago Fire Development Academy and the Chicago Fire Juniors youth organization. They also operate the Chicago Fire Foundation, the team's community-based charitable division. The Fire's home stadium is Soldier Field.


title: Chicago Fire FC

text: Chicago Fire FC was founded as Chicago Fire Soccer Club on October 8, 1997. The club is named after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871; the official founding date of the team was the 126th anniversary of that event. The owner and chairman of the Fire is Joe Mansueto, who purchased the club in 2019. The club president is Ishwara Glassman-Chrein; Georg Heitz was appointed sporting director in December 2019; The Fire were originally based at Soldier Field from 1997 to 2006. From 2006 to 2019, the club played at SeatGeek Stadium, a stadium originally built for the club, at 71st and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview. In 2019, with the change of ownership to Joe Mansueto, the Fire returned to Soldier Field for the 2020 MLS season. The Fire are currently one of the most successful clubs in the U.S. Open Cup, winning championships in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2006.


title: Chicago Fire FC

text: Many notable players have worn the Fire shirt, including U.S. internationals Chris Armas, Carlos Bocanegra, Frank Klopas, DaMarcus Beasley, Brian McBride, Tony Sanneh, Cory Gibbs, Ante Razov, Josh Wolff, Eric Wynalda and Jon Busch. Some of the club's other notable American professional players include C.J. Brown, Jesse Marsch, Chris Rolfe, and Zach Thornton. The Fire also have a reputation for importing international talent, from established veterans like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Pável Pardo, Piotr Nowak, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Tomasz Frankowski, Lubos Kubik, Hristo Stoichkov and Jorge Campos; in addition to younger players such as Patrick Nyarko, Marco Pappa, Damani Ralph, Bakary Soumaré and Nery Castillo.