Ranked choice voting keeps showing up in elections across the country — and if you've never voted that way before, the ballot can look a little surprising. Instead of picking one candidate, you're asked to rank several. But what actually happens after that? How does your ballot get counted? And why does any of this matter?
Here's a clear walkthrough of how ranked choice voting works, why it exists, and what's worth understanding before you step into the booth.
Ranked choice voting (RCV) — also called instant-runoff voting in single-winner elections — is a method that lets voters express more than a single preference. Rather than marking one candidate and stopping, you rank candidates in order: first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on.
The idea is to elect a winner who has broader support, not just the most votes in a crowded field. In a traditional plurality system (often called "first past the post"), the candidate with the most votes wins even if that's only 30% of the electorate. RCV aims to produce a winner who can reach majority support — at least more than half of continuing ballots — through a series of rounds.
This is where most people's questions actually live. The counting happens in rounds:
Round 1: Every voter's first-choice vote is counted. If one candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, that candidate wins outright — same as any other election.
If no one reaches 50%: The candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated. Voters who ranked that candidate first don't lose their vote. Instead, their ballot automatically transfers to whoever they ranked second.
Subsequent rounds: The same process repeats. The last-place candidate gets eliminated. Ballots for eliminated candidates transfer to the next-ranked choice still in the race. Rounds continue until one candidate clears 50% of the remaining active ballots.
The term "instant runoff" comes from this: the process mimics what would happen if you held multiple runoff elections, but does it all at once using your pre-ranked preferences.
You're almost never required to rank all candidates. Most RCV elections allow partial rankings — you might rank your top two or three and leave the rest blank. If all of your ranked candidates are eventually eliminated, your ballot becomes exhausted and is no longer counted in further rounds. This is worth knowing, because it means fully ranking candidates gives your ballot the longest possible participation in the count.
Not all ranked choice systems work the same way. The most common version in U.S. elections is the single-winner instant-runoff format described above — used for races like governor, mayor, or a single congressional seat.
But there's also proportional ranked choice voting, sometimes called the Single Transferable Vote (STV). This version is used in multi-seat elections — like city councils where several seats are up at once. In STV:
The mechanics are more complex, but the voter experience is similar: rank your candidates in order of preference.
Supporters of RCV argue it solves a few persistent problems with plurality voting:
Critics raise counterpoints worth knowing too:
RCV is used in a growing number of U.S. jurisdictions at the city, state, and federal levels, as well as in several other countries. Usage varies significantly:
| Context | Notes |
|---|---|
| Statewide/federal elections | Some states use RCV for primary or general elections for federal offices |
| Local/municipal elections | A number of cities use RCV for mayor and city council races |
| Party primaries | Some political parties have used RCV in their own nomination processes |
| International use | Australia has used preferential voting (a close cousin) for over a century; Ireland uses STV |
Rules differ by jurisdiction — which offices use it, how many candidates you can rank, and how ties are handled all vary. The specific rules governing any election you're participating in will be on your local election authority's website.
The ballot looks different than what most American voters are used to, but the act of voting is straightforward:
The most important thing to know: you can't hurt your first choice by ranking additional candidates. Your second-choice vote only counts if your first-choice candidate is eliminated. It's not split between candidates — it moves down the line in sequence.
The same system can produce very different results depending on the electoral landscape:
Understanding the system is the first step. Whether it's better or worse than alternatives for any given election — and for any individual voter's goals — is a question that touches on values, political priorities, and the specific candidates involved. That's a judgment each voter has to make for themselves.
