What is ranked-choice voting and how does it work in US elections?
Summary
Ranked-choice voting lets voters rank candidates by preference. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and ballots for that candidate are reassigned to voters’ next choices until a candidate has a majority of votes still counted.Key Facts
- Alaska and Maine use ranked-choice voting statewide; New York City is among the cities that use it.
- Maine adopted ranked-choice voting in 2016 and first used it in congressional elections in 2018.
- Alaska voters approved ranked-choice voting in a 2020 ballot initiative.
- In Alaska, all candidates compete in open primaries, and the top four advance to a ranked-choice general election.
- A voter who ranks only a candidate who is later eliminated has no next choice to receive their ballot.
- Unlike a traditional runoff, ranked-choice voting can determine a winner through multiple counting rounds after a single election.
- Supporters say the system can reduce the spoiler effect and let voters choose their preferred candidate without worrying about wasting a vote.
- Critics say the system makes ballots and vote counting more complicated; a 2025 study cited in the article found that 4.8 percent of ranked-choice ballots were improperly marked, though not all were invalidated.
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