Unlike traditional voting, expect to rank the candidates on the ballot by preference from your favorite to least favorite. Watch the video to learn how it works.
Ranked choice voting changes things.
Ranked choice voting eliminates the need for run-off elections. This saves time, money, and energy.
Click a question below to see the answer.
Ranked choice voting or “instant run-off voting,” allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, when marking their ballots. Ranked choice voting eliminates the need for run-off elections.
Yes. Your vote will count only once for that candidate.
Yes. Your vote will count for your one choice.
With ranked choice voting, if a candidate receives a majority (50%+1) of the first-choice votes cast for that office, that candidate will be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes cast, an elimination process begins. The candidate who received the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated. Next, each vote cast for that candidate will be transferred to the voter's next-ranked choice among the remaining candidates. This elimination process will continue until one candidate receives a majority and is deemed the winner.
The ranked choice ballot is designed in a side-by-side format and lists the names of all the candidates. This format allows a voter to select a first-choice candidate in the first section, a second-choice candidate in the second section, a third-choice candidate in the third section, and so on.
No. Ranking a candidate more than once does not benefit the candidate. If a voter ranks one candidate as the voter's first, second and third choice, it is the same as if the voter leaves the second or third choice blank. In other words, if the candidate is eliminated that candidate is no longer eligible to receive second or third choice votes.
No. If a voter gives more than one candidate the same ranking, the vote cannot be counted. Only one candidate can represent the voter's first, second, or third choice.
• When you complete a ballot at a voting center, the equipment will notify you if you vote for more than one candidate in any column. • It will not detect votes for the same candidate in multiple columns.
Yes, in fact many communities across the country are either using or piloting ranked choice voting systems. Currently, ranked choice voting is being used in Maine for federal and statewide elections (and municipal elections in the city of Portland); in Minnesota for elections in Minneapolis and St. Paul; in California for elections in Oakland, San Francisco, San Leandro, and Berkeley; in New Mexico for elections in Santa Fe and Las Cruces; in Colorado for elections in Telluride; and various other states have adopted it and are in the implementation process.
If your city is not on the current list of participating cities, please contact your local city department for additional questions.
For more information, contact your local city department.
