Ranked-choice voting is an election method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference instead of choosing only one. It matters because it can find a winner with majority support when there are more than two candidates. This system is often used to reduce the spoiler effect and give voters more freedom to support their true first choice.
It is also called instant-runoff voting when it is used to elect one winner.
The count begins by looking only at first-choice votes. If a candidate has more than 50% of the active votes, that candidate wins. If no one has a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and ballots for that candidate transfer to the next ranked candidate still in the race.
This process repeats until one candidate reaches a majority or only one candidate remains.
Key Facts
- A ranked-choice ballot lets voters mark 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, and so on.
- Majority threshold = more than 50% of active ballots.
- If Candidate A has votes_A > total active votes / 2, Candidate A wins.
- If no candidate has a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated.
- A transferred vote goes to the highest-ranked candidate on that ballot who has not been eliminated.
- Ranked-choice voting is used in places such as Maine, Alaska, New York City primaries, San Francisco, and some local elections in other countries.
Vocabulary
- Ranked-choice voting
- An election system in which voters rank candidates by preference instead of voting for only one candidate.
- Instant runoff
- A counting process that eliminates the lowest candidate and transfers votes until a candidate has a majority.
- Majority
- More than half of the active votes in a round of counting.
- Transfer
- The movement of a ballot from an eliminated candidate to the next ranked candidate still in the race.
- Exhausted ballot
- A ballot that cannot transfer because all ranked candidates on it have been eliminated or no more choices were ranked.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ranking only one candidate when you have other acceptable choices, because your ballot may stop counting if that candidate is eliminated.
- Giving two candidates the same rank, because many ballot systems treat duplicate rankings as an error or stop reading the ballot at that point.
- Assuming your 2nd choice hurts your 1st choice, because lower choices are only considered if your higher-ranked active candidates are eliminated.
- Confusing plurality with majority, because ranked-choice voting usually requires more than 50% of active votes rather than simply having the most votes in the first round.
Practice Questions
- 1 In Round 1, the active ballots are 10,000. Candidate A has 4,600 votes, Candidate B has 3,100, Candidate C has 1,400, and Candidate D has 900. Does anyone win immediately, and who is eliminated first?
- 2 After Candidate D is eliminated, 500 of D's ballots transfer to A, 250 transfer to B, 100 transfer to C, and 50 become exhausted. What are the new vote totals, how many active ballots remain, and what is the new majority threshold?
- 3 Explain why ranked-choice voting can reduce the spoiler effect in an election with three similar candidates and one very different candidate.