Most American elections ask voters to mark one name. But in ranked-choice systems, a ballot becomes a sequence of preferences—and the count unfolds like a small political drama.
How the Count Works
Under instant-runoff voting, voters rank candidates. If no one receives more than half the first-choice votes, the lowest-polling candidate is eliminated. Those ballots are then transferred to the voters’ next preferences. The process continues until a candidate gains a majority of votes still in play.
The method differs from a traditional runoff because the later rounds are calculated from the original election rather than requiring voters to return for another contest.
A Different Kind of Choice
Ranked voting can let people support a preferred candidate without feeling that their vote is wasted if that candidate cannot win. It also asks voters to think beyond a single favorite and consider acceptable alternatives.
Maine became the first state to adopt instant-runoff voting statewide, although constitutional provisions limited its use to federal elections and state primaries. Several cities have adopted ranked-choice voting as well. Single transferable voting uses similar rankings but elects multiple representatives in one contest, as in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Portland, Oregon.
The method changes more than vote counting. It changes how voters express political preferences: instead of saying only “yes” to one candidate, they can describe an entire order of support.
