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What is ranked-choice voting? : NPR


Illustration of a hand filling out a ranked selection ballot for the mock election for county president.  Carlos Cruz was ranked first, Bella Bryson second, Deepika Doshi third and Aaron Abbott fourth.
Illustration of a hand filling out a ranked selection ballot for the mock election for county president.  Carlos Cruz was ranked first, Bella Bryson second, Deepika Doshi third and Aaron Abbott fourth.

In 2020, Alaskans voted to establish a rating-choice voting system for general elections, to be implemented earlier this year. And it quickly made an impact, as Democratic Representative Mary Peltola beat a pair of Republics to win a special election to fill a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Likewise, in this fall’s general election, as no candidate won a majority in the election. Races for the Senate and House of Representatives — defined as 50% plus one vote — there will be another round of counting on Wednesday.

Maine also uses a ranked-choice voting system for all federal primaries and general elections, and Nevada voters have taken the first step to establish one.

But what does all of that mean?

In the rating selection vote system, voters can rank multiple candidates. If a candidate receives a majority of the votes, the election ends and that candidate wins.

If no one reaches 50% plus one, the candidate in the last place will be disqualified. Then, the next choice on that candidate’s voter’s ballot is reallocated and tallied. That process repeats until someone wins a majority. The number of rounds varies according to the number of candidates present and the election closing time.

The hypothetical example below will guide you through several scenarios — one in which a candidate wins outright and one in which several rounds of ranked selection voting take place.

Here is the vote for our example:

An illustration of a ranked choice ballot for a hypothetical election for county president.  The nominees are Aaron Abbott, Bella Bryson, Carlos Cruz and Deepika Doshi.  Writing Instructions: Rank up to four choices.  Mark no more than one oval in each column.

scene 1

Someone gets more than 50% of the votes plus one. They won outright.

Bar chart illustration showing each candidate's share of votes on the ballot.  Bella Bryson won with over 50% of the vote.

scenario 2

No one met the threshold. Now we get into the ranking selection voting.

An illustration of a bar chart with four candidates.  Bella Bryson led, but no candidate received more than 50% of the vote.

The candidate with the fewest votes — Aaron Abbott — was eliminated. All of their votes are redistributed to those voters’ second choices.

Any vote that ranks Abbott first and does not rank other options becomes inactivity or exhaustion. In other words, those votes cannot be counted in the following rounds because there are no candidates left in the contest to be ranked.

An illustration of the previous bar chart where no candidate won a majority of votes.  The arrows show that Abbott's votes are redistributed to other candidates, as they have the smallest share of votes.  Bryson still leads, but with less than 50% of the vote.

However, none met the threshold. So, the next candidate with the fewest votes — Deepika Doshi — is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to the voters’ next selections.

Bar chart illustration with the remaining three candidates.  The arrows show the vote redistribution of Deepika Doshi, as they currently have the smallest share of votes.  With this new number of votes, Carlos Cruz had more than 50% of the vote.

Finally, someone meets the threshold. Carlos Cruz wins.

This can take place in multiple rounds, depending on the number of candidates and how close the vote is.

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