Ranked Choice Voting: As easy as 1, 2, 3

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Voting Your Conscience Without the Guilt - a Ranked Choice Voting Primer

Portland voters will elect a mayor on November 8th, and a lot of people seem to want the job. Chances are, nobody will win 50%+1 of the vote in such a crowded field. How, then, is the will of the majority supposed to be satisfied? Through Ranked Choice Voting, of course.

RCV a simple method of voting. All you have to do is:

1. Decide who your favorite candidate is and mark them as your first choice.

2. Do you have a 2nd choice? If so, indicate by filling in "2".

3. Repeat the process for any other choices you have, indicating order of preference.

4. You don't have to rank all candidates. But the more you rank, the more likely it is that your vote will be counted!

How the ballots are counted:

1. Ballots are counted. Did someone get 50% +1 of the vote? If yes, they win! If not:

2. Last place finisher is eliminated. All second place votes on those ballots are redistributed to the remaining candidates.

3. Ballots counted again. Did someone get 50% +1 of the vote yet? If yes, they win! If not:

4. Last place finisher in that round is eliminated. Repeat step 2.

5. Repeat process until someone gets 50% +1 of the remaining votes. That person wins!

RCV takes the guilt out of voting. How often have you wanted to vote for candidate A but voted for candidate B because you were worried candidate C - an unrepentant puppy eater - might otherwise win? You don't have to worry about that dilemma when you pick your new mayor. Just vote your conscience and sleep well on election night.

Wanna see this demonstration live? Email delia@theleague.com to schedule or call 207-312-1105!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• The League of Young Voters
• Maine League of Young Voters
• Voter Guide
• Voting
• Election Day
• Ranked Choice Voting
• Instant Run off Voting

[mdak06]

It's a shame that people support IRV instead of other better alternative voting methods. IRV is mathematically awful and a logistical mess for any hand recount. It counts some ballots differently than others, it does not allow summation of votes (as nearly all other methods do), and it can have bizarre results. It can even have scenarios in which people changing their first-place vote from candidate A to candidate B causes candidate B to lose. Approval, range, and others are much better options.

[david203]

It's a shame that most explanations (including this one) are too complicated. Ranked-choice voting is vastly superior to single-choice voting because it incorporates information from the voters about their complete preferences. It gives all candidates a fair evaluation.

Note: ranked-choice voting can actually be improved slightly by adding a ranking for the candidates the voters LEAST want to see elected. The result is accurate information for the candidates at the bottom.