The Association of
National Active and Retired Federal Employees

 

Ranked-Choice Voting

This popular electoral system allows voters to rank candidates by preference, meaning they can submit ballots that list not only their first- choice candidate for a position, but also their second, third and so on. and many say it could help prevent the increase of evermore polarized election campaigns. “We are really settling on ranked-choice voting as the most promising reform to democratize and depolarize our politics,” says Larry Diamond, the former director of Stanford?s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. “I think it?s not only here to stay but that it?s gaining support across the country.”

What is ranked-choice voting?

Ranked-choice voting is an electoral system that allows people to vote for multiple candidates, in order of preference. Instead of just choosing who you want to win, you fill out the ballot saying who is your first choice, second choice, or third choice (or more as needed) for each position.

The candidate with the majority (more than 50%) of first-choice votes wins outright. If no candidate gets a majority of first-choice votes, then it triggers a new counting process. The candidate who did the worst is eliminated, and that candidate?s voters? ballots are redistributed to their second-choice pick. In other words, if you ranked a losing candidate as your first choice, and the candidate is eliminated, then your vote still counts: it just moves to your second-choice candidate. That process continues until there is a candidate who has the majority of votes.

In comparison, the U.S. federal government and most American states and cities currently use what?s known as the plurality system: the candidate with the highest number of votes wins—period. It doesn?t matter whether that candidate earned the majority of the vote.

In a ranked-choice voting system, it works differently. The winning candidate almost always ends up with a majority of votes—even if some portion of the electorate selected him or her as a second or third choice.