What difference does a voting rule make?

Abstract: Using data from Politbarometer surveys and from local American elections in which voters ranked candidates, this paper estimates the frequencies with which different pairs of voting rules yield different outcomes from the same ballots. The frequencies vary widely over pairs of rules, from 0.39% for the pair Minimax and STAR to 24.41% for the pair Plurality and Approval. The paper also checked for Condorcet winners. There were Condorcet winners in all of the 115 elections examined and in all but one of the 1,022 surveys examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]