Have questions about ranked choice voting? We've got all the answers you need.
In a word, representation. Ranked Choice Voting ensures the outcome of an election better represents voters' desires.
The elimination of unviable candidates removes the "spoiler effect" they can have on the overall election. This allows voters to comfortably vote for whom they think is the best candidate — even if that candidate may be unlikely to win.
Also, by making "playing for second place" a viable election strategy, Ranked Choice Voting leads to more civil campaigning.
The cumulative effect is a more positive, representative election.
No. Ranked Choice Voting has been used in elections across the United States for decades. Surveys and interviews of voters have shown it just as easy to understand as the more common "vote for one" elections.
For single-winner elections, the winner needs to have a majority of the votes cast (50% + 1). In an election with 600 votes cast, the threshold would be 301 votes. In an election with only 10 votes cast, the threshold would be 6 votes.
For multi-winners elections, it's the same idea. What is the amount of votes that would guarantee this candidate is supported by enough voters? For a two-winner election, it comes out to 33% of the votes + 1. For a three-winner election, it's 25% of the votes + 1.
If you're feeling nerdy, this concept is called the Droop Quota.
Multi-winner elections are for making decisions that don't have a single answer. It could be to fill an advisory board that has three open seats. Or, to choose the best initiatives when you've only got budget to pursue the top two.
The best part? There's no additional work for your voters. They vote exactly as they have before. RankedVote calculates the winners.
Ranked-choice voting's signature feature is the elimination of candidates. If no one has a majority, the lowest vote getter is eliminated and those votes get moved to their next ranked choice.
Multi-winner elections add one more concept to the mix — excess votes.
In a multi-winner election, if a candidate has excess votes beyond the number of votes needed to win, those "overkill" votes also get moved to their next ranked choice in the following round.
Why? It's all about ensuring that the true preferences of the group are reflected.
Imagine an election to replace a 3-member board. One candidate is extremely popular and gets 75% of first-place votes. Without handling excess votes, the remaining two candidates would be determined out of the 25% who didn't vote for the popular candidate. In other words, a majority of the seats (2 out of 3) would be determined by a minority of the group (the 25% who didn't vote for the popular candidate). That's not fair or representative!
With excess vote handling, the popular candidate is clearly determined to be a winner, the excess votes are sent to next choices, and the entire voting group's preferences are reflected.
Check out this example multi-winner election to see how it all plays out. Then, start using it in your own organization!
Even with ranked-choice voting, tied outcomes can occur. When that happens, RankedVote does the best it can to reflect the strongest preference of the voters.
If two (or more) candidates have the same number of votes at the end of a round, RankedVote looks at how all voters ranked each of those candidates. The candidate with the least support amongst all voters is eliminated. RankedVote's tiebreaker uses an algorithm similar to the Borda Count.
And, in the rare event that the tiebreaker calculation has a tied result, RankedVote picks the first candidate entered chronologically. At that point, there's no additional information to feed into the algorithm, and "picking the first one" leads to a consistent winner.
Perceptions of "what an election is" and "what an election should be" are formed at an early age. Exposure to Ranked Choice Voting helps shape those perceptions. Feel free to use the guides on this site to educate others.
And, since there's no better education than real world experience, don't hesitate to create an election.
DON'T WAIT ANY LONGER
Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to rank the candidates in an election, in order of preference.
In an election, if one candidate receives an outright majority, that candidate wins. Same as in a typical "first past the post" election.
If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest first place votes is eliminated and voters who ranked that candidate first have their ballots instantly counted for their second choice. This process repeats and last place candidates are removed until one candidate reaches a majority and wins.
Your vote counts for your second choice only if your first choice has been eliminated.