An "Effective Vote" is one that is used to elect someone. A vote not used to elect someone is a vote disregarded.
Not every voter can elect their first choice under any system but where multiple members are elected in a district, many voters can elect their first choice and where preferential votes are used, most - as much as 90 percent - can elect someone preferred over someone else.
in First Past The Post elections, only one member is elected in each district. There are a great many wasted votes. Often more than half are disregarded. Often a minority of the voters in each district elect the district MLA or MP.
Not every vote can elect their first choice obviously (not at least when some votes go to each candidate and there are more candidates running than empty seats).
But if voters who support the least popular candidates are allowed to switch their votes to others, they can see their vote used to elect someone they prefer at least in preference to others.
Under Canadian STV elections, at least 80 to 90 percent of the votes were used to elect someone. This is a very high ratio when compared to the rate of Effective Voting in non-proportional winner-take-all First Past The Post elections, where as much as 69 percent of the voters are ignored.
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