A political ballot gives voters the option to vote for one of three candidates. Eight voters cast their ballots. Which statistical rule should be used to determine the possible voting outcomes?

Bayes theorem is used to calculate conditional probabilities based on prior knowledge or evidence. It is not applicable in this scenario since we are not updating probabilities based on previous votes or information; we are simply counting the different ways voters can select candidates.

The multiplication principle states that if one event can occur in 'm' ways and a second can occur in 'n' ways, the total number of ways both can occur is 'm × n'. While this principle applies to independent choices, it does not specifically account for the combination aspect of selecting candidates in a voting scenario like this.

Conditional probability deals with the likelihood of an event occurring given that another event has already occurred. This concept does not apply in this voting context, as there are no conditions imposed on how voters choose among the candidates. All voters make their choices independently.