"The candidates and their agents can see from the piles of papers, whose pile is biggest. They don't feel the need to ask for a recount.
How in hell do you verify who the actual winners are with AV?"

Well if the biggest pile is less than 50%, they redistrinute the smallest party's pile among the remaining ones.

If the biggest is still less than 50%, then they do it again with the next smallest one.

When the biggest pile is more than 50%, that party is the winner.


Seemples.