Ranked Choice Voting
Ranked choice voting can be tricky to understand, so we’ve simplified it with an example using food instead of candidates. This explanation will show how the system works, helping you cast your vote with confidence and make a decision that best reflects your values.
Ranked Choice Voting Simplified:
Let’s say you and your friends are trying to decide what to eat for dinner. The options are:
Macaroni and cheese 🧀
Pizza 🍕
Chicken nuggets 🍗
Hamburgers 🍔
Tacos 🌮
Instead of just picking one, you each rank them from your favorite to least favorite:
You put macaroni and cheese as #1 because it’s your favorite.
Then pizza is #2.
Tacos are #3.
Chicken nuggets are #4.
Hamburgers are last at #5.
Now, everyone’s first-choice food is counted. If one food gets more than half the votes, that food wins! But if no food gets more than half, here’s what happens:
The food with the fewest votes is out (bye-bye, hamburgers!).
If someone had hamburgers as their first choice, their second choice is now counted.
This keeps going—removing the food with the least votes and looking at everyone’s next choices—until one food has more than half the votes. That’s the winner!
So, maybe tacos weren’t everyone’s #1, but they might still win because lots of people had tacos as their #2 or #3. This voting system is a way to pick a food that most people are happy with!
Why is it better to rank all the candidates instead of just picking my favorite one?
In ranked choice voting, only listing one candidate limits the system's ability to reflect your full preferences. Here's why:
Your vote stops counting if your top choice is eliminated: If the candidate you select doesn’t receive enough support and is eliminated, your ballot doesn’t contribute to the next round of counting because it has no backup choices.
You miss the chance to influence the outcome: By ranking more candidates, you can still have a say in who wins, even if your first choice doesn’t make it.
It reduces the system’s fairness: Ranked choice voting is designed to ensure that the final winner has broad support. By not ranking additional candidates, your ballot doesn’t fully contribute to that process.
Ranking multiple candidates allows your preferences to be considered in every round, giving you more influence and ensuring your voice is heard throughout the voting process.