Instant-Runoff (Ranked-Choice) Voting

Rank choice voting has been advanced as an alternative to traditional voting, though the psychological and political implications of such a change are unclear. Below is a description of exactly what ranked-choice voting is.

FIRST STEP: You vote by ranking all of the candidates.
NEXT STEP: Vote-tallying in Round 1.

- After all of the voting has been completed, there is at least one round of vote-tallying.
- In the first round, your vote goes to the candidate you ranked highest ("highest" meaning "most preferred").
- If one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, that candidate is declared the winner.
- If no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and a second round of tallying is done.

NEXT STEPS: Vote-tallying in subsequent rounds.
- In the second round of tallying, the eliminated candidate is removed from each voter's rankings, and your second-round vote goes to the (non-eliminated) candidate you ranked highest.
  - If your highest ranked candidate was not eliminated in the first round, your vote in the second round again goes to your highest ranked candidate.
  - However, if your highest ranked candidate was eliminated in the first round, your vote in the second round goes to your second-most-preferred candidate.
- In some versions of ranked choice voting:
  - If one candidate gets more than 50% of the votes in the second round, the contest ends there. Otherwise, the second-round candidate who received the fewest votes gets eliminated, and the tallying goes to a third round.
  - Additional rounds of tallying may be conducted (third round, fourth round, etc.) until one of the non-eliminated candidates gets more than 50% of the votes.
- In other versions of ranked choice voting:
  - If no candidate gets a majority of votes as a result of the initial count then all subsequent rounds of counting are cnducted until there are only two candidates left.

Visual illustration of the same voting procedure that's described in the text of this web page. Additionally, a Google Sheets version is available at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LiVfelJTZdMPaAV3g9iA7uaR_QIb2VSaYwmlI__mb5g/edit?usp=sharing

Bibliography

Alvarez, R. M., Hall, T. E., & Levin, I. (2018). Low-information voting: evidence from instant-runoff elections. American Politics Research, 46(6), 1012–1038.

Donovan, T., Tolbert, C., & Gracey, K. (2019). Self‐reported understanding of ranked‐choice voting. Social Science Quarterly, 100(5), 1768–1776. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ssqu.12651

Grofman, B. (2008). A taxonomy of runoff methods. Electoral Studies, 27(3), 395–399.

Heuvel, K. V. (2021). Ranked-Choice Voting is Already Changing Politics for the Better. Progressive Populist, 27(10), 12.

McCarthy, D., & Santucci, J. (2021). Ranked Choice Voting as a Generational Issue in Modern American Politics. Politics & Policy, 49(1), 33–60. https://doi-org.ezproxy.bgsu.edu/10.1111/polp.12390

Notes

In some jurisdictions, multiple candidates can be eliminated after each round of counting, and at least some of your rankings may not count if you do not rank all of the candidates.)
When there are few voters relative to the number of candidates, ties can occur often and there needs to be some rule for tie-breaking.)
RankTheVoteOhio describes the "rounds" (in ranked choice voting) as ending when one candidate receives a majority of the votes. This is reasonable (and reflects traditional runoffs). However, it should be noted that according to State law, the process in Maine and Alaska DOES NOT end when one candidate receives a majority. It only ends when there are exactly two candidates left and one of the two receives the most votes. Thus for example, if there are three candidates left and one candidate has a majority of votes, that's not sufficient to keep things from going to an additional round.

In Maine https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/pdf/250c535-2018-230-complete.pdf

"At the end of each round, if more than 3 candidates remain, the last place candidate is defeated and the vote for the next-highest-ranked continuing candidate on the defeated candidate's ballots is then counted in the next round. [. . .] In the FINAL round WHEN ONLY TWO CONTINUING CANDIDATES REMAIN, the candidate with the most votes in that round is the winning candidate."

In Alaska https://www.elections.alaska.gov/RCV.php

"Round One: The Division counts all 1st choices. If a candidate gets 50% + 1 vote in round one, that candidate wins and the counting stops. If not, counting goes to Round Two. Round Two (and beyond): The candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated. If you voted for that candidate, your vote goes to your next choice and you still have a say in who wins. If your first choice candidate was not eliminated, your vote stays with them. Votes are counted again. This keeps happening in rounds UNTIL ONLY TWO CANDIDATES ARE LEFT and the one with the most votes wins."

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