Ranked-choice-voting lets you rank candidates in order of preference-first, second, third choice-instead of picking just one. If no one wins a majority on first choices, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and those votes are redistributed to voters second choices. This process continues until someone wins a majority.
A vote variation which allows each voter to rank contest options in order of the voter 's preference, in which votes are counted in rounds using a series of runoff tabulations to defeat contest options with the fewest votes, which elects a winner with a majority of final round votes in a single winner contest and provides proportional representation in multi-winner contests.
Example
In the 2022 mayoral election in Portland, Maine, voters used ranked-choice-voting to list candidates in order of preference: 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice. Since no candidate won 50%, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes was eliminated, and those votes were redistributed to voters' 2nd choices. This process continued until one candidate reached 50%.
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A vote variation which allows each voter to rank contest options in order of the voter 's preference, in which votes are counted in rounds using a series of runoff tabulations to defeat contest options with the fewest votes, which elects a winner with a majority of final round votes in a single winner contest and provides proportional representation in multi-winner contests.
Cite this term
Election Security Glossary. (2026). Ranked Choice Voting. In Election Security Glossary. Retrieved September 15, 2026, from https://electionsecurityglossary.com/glossary/ranked-choice-voting
Sources
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High consensus
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Disputed
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Multi-source
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