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Explore Ranked Choice
Information and demos about Ranked Choice Voting.
What is Ranked Choice Voting? (Preferential Voting)
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Why?
More choice, less “strategic” voting
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Representative outcomes
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Discourages negative campaigning
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Saves money
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Increases participation
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Lowers the barrier to entry for women and candidates of color
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How?
All first choices are tallied and if a candidate receives more than half of the first choices, that candidate wins, just like in any other election.
If there is no majority winner after counting first choices, the race is decided by an “instant runoff.”
The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who picked that candidate as their top choice will have their next choice counted.
This process continues until there’s a majority winner or a candidate won with more than half of the vote.
Interactive Demo
Pick who you want to win
Voters have the option to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third and so forth. Votes that do not help voters’ top choices win count for their next choice.
Person
Choice
Donald Trump
Republican
Joe Biden
Democrat
Bernie Sanders
Independent
Jill Stein
Green
Joey Giusto
Articles
Where?
As of February 2024, 50 American jurisdictions have RCV in place for all voters in public elections, reaching approximately 13 million voters. This includes 2 states, 3 counties, and 45 cities, several of which are using the “gold standard” of proportional RCV.
In total, ranked choice voting is used in 60 jurisdictions across 24 states, which includes party-run primaries, special elections, and RCV ballots for military and overseas voters in federal runoff elections in 6 states.
Actions
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