Ranked Choice Voting: How It Works and Where It Stands

What Is Ranked Choice Voting

Ranked choice voting is a way to vote that lets you rank candidates in order of preference instead of choosing only one. If no candidate wins a majority of first choices, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots move to each voter’s next pick, and the count repeats until someone passes 50%. The version used in American elections is single-winner instant-runoff voting, which fills one office at a time.

Rank, do not just pick. You mark a first choice, a second, a third, and so on. The counting runs an instant runoff until one candidate has majority support.

Key facts

You rank candidates 1, 2, 3; if no one tops 50%, the last-place candidate is dropped and those votes flow to the next choice until a winner emerges (Ballotpedia).
Two states use it statewide, Maine and Alaska, plus New York City primaries and dozens of cities, about 49 jurisdictions across 22 states reaching roughly 14 million voters (FairVote).
Maine became the first state to adopt RCV, by ballot initiative in 2016, and first used it for federal races in 2018 (Ballotpedia).
Roughly 19 states have now banned RCV, most of them Republican-led, with Kansas banning it under a Democratic governor (Ballotpedia).
Alaska voters kept RCV in November 2024 by 743 votes, a margin of 0.24%, when a repeal narrowly failed (Alaska Beacon).

People often confuse RCV with a system that elects multiple winners proportionally. Single-winner RCV does not do that. It picks one winner per office, and it is the form on nearly every American ballot that uses ranking.

How a Winner Is Decided

The clearest way to understand RCV is to set it next to the system most Americans already use. Under plurality voting, you pick one candidate and whoever gets the most votes wins, even with far less than half. Under ranked choice, the count keeps going until someone has a real majority.

Step	Plurality (pick one)	Ranked choice (instant runoff)
What voters do	Mark a single candidate	Rank candidates 1, 2, 3, and so on
What it takes to win	The most votes, even under 50%	A majority, more than 50%
If no majority	Top vote-getter wins anyway	Last-place candidate is dropped; votes move to next choice
Spoiler effect	A third candidate can split the vote and flip the result	Reduced; backup choices still count if your first is eliminated

The spoiler row is what supporters care about most. In a plurality race, voting for a candidate you love but who cannot win can help elect the one you like least. Ranking lets you support that candidate first without throwing the choice away, because your ballot still counts for your backup if the first is eliminated.

Where It Spread and Stalled

RCV grew steadily for a decade and then hit a wall in 2024. Maine adopted it in 2016 and used it for the first time in 2018, Alaska added it in 2020, and momentum looked national until voters in four states rejected new measures on the same November 2024 ballot. Bans spread across Republican-led states, while Alaska kept its system alive by a razor-thin margin.

Ranked choice voting, 2016 to 2024

2016 Maine becomes the first RCV state Voters adopt ranked choice voting by ballot initiative.
2018 Maine's 2nd District decided by instant runoff Jared Golden wins after trailing on first-choice votes.
2020 Alaska adopts RCV plus a top-four primary Measure 2 pairs ranked choice with an open primary.
Nov 2024 Four state RCV measures fail; bans spread Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon reject RCV; Missouri approves a ban.
Nov 2024 Alaska keeps RCV by 743 votes A repeal narrowly fails as Begich defeats Peltola in the same election.

Sources: FairVote; Ballotpedia; Alaska Beacon.

2016: Maine voters passed a ballot initiative making it the first state to use ranked choice voting, a system it would apply to federal primary and general elections.

2018: Maine’s 2nd Congressional District became the first U.S. House race decided by an instant runoff, with Jared Golden winning after starting behind on first-choice votes.

2020: Alaska voters approved Measure 2, pairing ranked choice general elections with a single top-four primary open to all candidates.

November 2024: RCV measures failed in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon, and Missouri voters approved a constitutional ban, marking the movement’s worst night at the ballot box.

November 2024: Alaska voters chose to keep ranked choice voting by just 743 votes, a 0.24% margin, even as Republican Nick Begich won the same House seat under the system.

The Numbers Behind RCV

RCV today is both widely used and widely contested, sometimes in the same election. About 14 million voters live in places that use it, two states run it statewide, and yet roughly 19 states have moved to ban it outright.

2
states use ranked choice voting statewide, Maine and Alaska: 49
jurisdictions use RCV, reaching about 14 million voters: 19
states have banned ranked choice voting, most Republican-led: 743
votes by which Alaska kept RCV in 2024

The same system can hand the seat to different parties, which cuts against the claim that RCV favors one side. In 2022, Democrat Mary Peltola won Alaska’s House seat after transfers. In 2024, Republican Nick Begich beat Peltola 51-49 in the final round under the identical rules.

Why It Matters

Ranked choice voting decides who actually holds office, not just how ballots look. In Maine’s 2nd District in 2018, the candidate ahead after first choices lost the seat once backup votes were counted, and the winner crossed 50% rather than taking the seat with a plurality. That is the core promise supporters make, that the person who wins has majority support.

The fight over RCV is really a fight over that promise. Where voters have used it, two states have chosen to keep it, including Alaska by the narrowest of margins. Where it is on the defensive, legislatures are banning it before voters try it, which turns the question from how RCV performs to whether people get to decide for themselves.

The Honest Disagreement

Serious people disagree about ranked choice voting, and the disagreement is real. We lay out both cases and let you weigh them.

The case for RCV comes from FairVote and other supporters. They argue that winners end up with majority support, that the spoiler effect shrinks so people can vote for who they actually prefer, that candidates have a reason to reach beyond their base because they want second-choice votes, and that a single ranked election can replace a costly separate runoff.

The case against comes from the Heritage Foundation and some election officials. They argue that ranking is more complex for voters, that results take longer to count, and that “ballot exhaustion” happens when all of a voter’s ranked candidates are eliminated and the ballot stops counting. Heritage also points out that a meaningful share of voters do not rank multiple candidates, which can blunt the system’s intended effect.

Both sides should be honest about the limits. Single-winner RCV is not proportional representation, so it does not guarantee that seats match a party’s overall support. It does not by itself fix gerrymandering, since district lines are drawn separately. And a candidate with a strong lead in first choices can still win outright. We do not declare a winner on whether RCV is the right reform.

Frequently asked questions

Does my vote still count if my first choice loses? Yes, in most cases. If your first choice is eliminated, your ballot moves to your next-ranked candidate who is still in the running. Your ballot only stops counting if every candidate you ranked has been eliminated, which is called ballot exhaustion.

Does ranked choice voting take longer to count? It can. If no candidate wins a majority of first choices on election night, officials run additional rounds, which can take days while all ballots are gathered. Supporters note it replaces a separate runoff election that would also take time.

Is ranked choice voting the same as proportional representation? No. The single-winner RCV used in American elections fills one seat at a time and elects one winner per office. Proportional representation is a different system that tries to match a party’s share of seats to its share of votes.

Why are states banning it? Roughly 19 states, most of them Republican-led, have passed bans, often before voters in those states have tried RCV. Backers of the bans cite complexity and slower counts, while opponents say the bans take a choice away from local communities.

What you can do

Support RCV ballot measures and local adoption. Where a ranked choice measure is on your ballot or before your city council, vote for it and tell local officials you want the option. FairVote tracks active campaigns by state.
Oppose state bans on ranked choice voting. Roughly 19 states have banned RCV, often before voters could try it. Ask your state legislators, on the record, to vote against preemption bills that block cities from choosing the system.
If you live in Alaska, vote to keep RCV in 2026. Alaska kept ranked choice by 743 votes in 2024, and another repeal is set for the 2026 ballot. Learn how the system works before you vote on it.
Learn how your other voting rules work. Read our gerrymandering explainer to see why RCV alone does not fix unfair district lines, and why the two reforms are often paired.
Write your state legislators using the letter below and ask them to let voters use ranked choice voting instead of banning it.

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The Letter

Subject: Let voters use ranked choice voting

How we vote should be a choice communities get to make, not one a legislature takes off the table. Ranked choice voting lets people rank candidates in order, and if no one wins a majority, the last-place candidate is dropped and those ballots move to each voter's next pick until someone passes 50%. The winner ends up with real majority support instead of squeaking in with a plurality.

This is not a fringe experiment. Two states, Maine and Alaska, use ranked choice statewide, and about 49 jurisdictions across 22 states use it for roughly 14 million voters. Maine adopted it by ballot initiative back in 2016. When Alaska voters got the chance to repeal it in 2024, they chose to keep it, by just 743 votes.

What worries me is the rush to ban it. Roughly 19 states have now passed bans on ranked choice voting, and most did it before their own voters ever tried the system. That gets the order backwards. If people want to rank their candidates, or if a city wants to give it a try, the state should not slam the door first.

Reasonable people debate whether ranked choice is the best way to vote, and that debate is fine. But a ban does not settle the debate. It just removes the option. Cities and voters should be allowed to decide for themselves whether ranking works for them.

I am asking you to support letting voters and local communities use ranked choice voting, and to oppose any bill that bans it before the people in your district have had any say.

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I'm calling to ask my state legislator to let voters use ranked choice voting and to oppose any bill that bans it.
Ranked choice lets you rank candidates, and if no one gets a majority, the last-place candidate is dropped and votes move to the next choice until someone passes 50%.
Two states use it statewide and about 14 million voters live in ranked choice jurisdictions. Alaska voters chose to keep it in 2024 by just 743 votes.
Roughly 19 states have banned it, most before their own voters ever tried it. I want my legislator to keep this a choice communities can make.

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