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  1. Instant runoff elections use ranked-choice voting. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) A candidate must garner a majority of votes to win.
  2. To win, a candidate must receive a majority of votes. If a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, they win immediately.
  3. If no candidate has a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Ballots cast for that candidate are transferred to each voter’s next highest-ranked candidate still in the race. The votes are then recounted.
  4. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority and is declared the winner.
  5. See this video for a visual explanation.

  1. It is your choice! You can choose to rank just one candidate, a few, or all of them. Regardless of how many candidates you decide to rank, your ballot counts as one vote.
  2. Ranking multiple candidates does not hurt your first choice or even second choice. Though it’s important to recognize that there is no advantage to voting for the same person multiple times, as only the first time of those ranks will be considered.

  1. Yes! If a voter’s top choice is eliminated, their vote can still count toward their next preferred candidate. As a result, more voters have a say in the final outcome–like a regular runoff election, minus the cost and delayed results.

  1. An exhausted ballot is one that can no longer be counted in future rounds. In an instant runoff election, it occurs when a voter fails to rank enough candidates. In a regular runoff, it occurs when a voter fails to vote in the runoff election. Pick-one voting results in more exhausted ballots than does ranked elections. This shows why.

  1. Yes RCV works for both single winner and multi-winner elections however! In single winner races, a candidate needs to achieve more than ½ of the votes. However, in multiple winner races, divide the votes by the “number of seats + 1″ and any candidate that reaches that number wins a seat. 
  2. For example, in a 3 seat race, candidates need to achieve ¼ of the votes to be elected. In a 4 seat race, need to achieve ⅕ of the votes to be elected.

  1. We’re focusing on implementing ranked choice voting for Arizona’s congressional, state, and local elections. Our mission is to first implement ranked choice voting step by step by starting off with local elections. Our goal is to empower Arizonans and show them ranked choice voting brings more equal and fair representation. 
  2. We are not currently proposing any changes to the electoral college or how Arizona electors are chosen. (There are discussions taking place across the country about how best to elect the president, and this isn’t a target for us at this time. One potential option would be to use proportional RCV to allocate a number of electors for each candidate above a certain threshold of support.)

  1. No! Every voter still casts exactly one ballot, and that ballot counts as one vote throughout the entire process. Courts have consistently upheld RCV as fully consistent with the “one person, one vote” principle.
  2. For Single-Winner races, your vote starts with your first choice. If they’re eliminated, your one vote simply moves to your next preference. 
  3. For Multi-Winner races, you still cast one ballot. Votes are distributed proportionally so that the makeup of winners reflect the will of the voters; every voter’s ballot has equal weight in that outcome.
  4. Want to learn more about how multi-winner races work? Learn more about Proportional Representation here.

  1. Yes! RCV is the traditional voting system in Australia, Malta, Ireland, New Zealand, and Scotland. RCV was first used in the USA in 1915 and is currently used across 25 states, including: The entire states of Alaska & Maine 3 counties, and 47 cities. Additionally, military and overseas voters cast RCV ballots in federal runoff elections in 6 states and 1 city, including: New York, California, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Portland.

  1. There are multiple structural problems caused by the current electoral system that demonstrate the need for reform. 
  2. The current system creates potential for unrepresentative minority winners, where a candidate can win with as little as 34% of the vote, meaning 66% of voters would be represented by someone they didn’t choose. This leads to a “spoiler effect,” where a candidate with similar politics to another splits the vote with them, allowing a candidate that neither group of voters wanted to win instead.
  3. This leads to “tactical voting,” where voters feel forced to vote for whoever they think can beat the candidate they dislike most, rather than the candidate they actually support. Voting for the “lesser of two evils” is not true democratic representation.
  4. Additionally, the current system discourages candidate diversity. Political parties actively discourage multiple candidates from running for the same seat out of fear of splitting the vote, limiting the choices available to voters from the start.
  5. These are just a few of the many structural barriers created by the current electoral system, a comprehensive list of implications can be found here: ___

  1. Yes! RCV simulates a “runoff” but within a single decisive election so that voters need to turnout only once to vote. The purpose of a runoff in a single-seat election is to ensure that the winning candidate in a large field has the most support. It also compels candidates to campaign toward a majority of voters and win with broad popular support.
  2. Winners in a single-seat race are always the candidate with the majority of continuing ballots in the final round, if not of the total ballots cast. Some ballots may be exhausted before the final round of counting if that voter chose not to rank either of the final two candidates; in that case, the winner may not receive a majority of total initial ballots cast. 
  3. Voters are encouraged to rank as many preferences as they have and some will choose to rank only one or two choices. This is a voter’s preference, and should not be misconstrued that the voter did not understand the system or have their vote counted. The ballot is counted the way the voter wanted it to be counted.

  1. No, RCV doesn’t favor any political party; it simply ensures that outcomes reflect the will of the majority of voters. RCV increases the range of viable choices for voters by eliminating the fear of spoiler candidates, regardless of party affiliation. Political leaders from all parties have endorsed RCV.

  1. Yes! At the federal level, courts have consistently upheld ranked-choice voting as constitutional. In every such case (Dudum v. Arntz, Baber v. Dunlap, and Hagopian v. Dunlap), federal courts found no conflict between the US constitution and RCV. After all, some states have long used runoff elections, and RCV is effectively just an “instant runoff.”
  2. You may have heard about some constitutional challenges in Maine. The Maine constitution said that, for some races, the winner shall be elected by a “plurality” vote, and there was some debate over what that word meant in that context. The Arizona constitution does not make that stipulation.