Pairwise methods are
voting systems/
electoral systems in which
voters can submit
ranked ballots which are used to simulate
head-to-head
elections between every
candidate. The winner of
said elections is the
candidate who wins all pairwise matchups.
These methods differ in the
tie-breakers they employ.
Condorcet,
Copeland, and many others have devised methods of dealing with this
problem, also known as
Condorcet's paradox.