Instant-runoff voting (IRV), also known as the alternative vote (AV), transferable vote, ranked choice voting, or preferential voting is an electoral system used to elect a single winner from a field of more than two candidates. It is a preferential voting system in which voters rank the candidates in order of preference rather than voting for a single candidate.
Ballots are initially distributed based on each elector's first preference. If a candidate secures more than half of votes cast, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Ballots assigned to the eliminated candidate are recounted and added to the totals of the remaining candidates based on who is ranked next on each ballot. This process continues until one candidate wins by obtaining more than half the votes.
IRV has the effect of avoiding split votes when multiple candidates earn support from like-minded voters. For example, suppose there are two similar candidates A & B, and a third opposing candidate C, with raw popularity of 35%, 25% and 40% respectively. In a plurality voting system, candidate C may win with 40% of the votes, even though 60% of electors prefer either A or B. Alternatively, voters are pressured to choose the seemingly stronger candidate of either A or B, despite personal preference for the other, in order to help ensure the defeat of C. It is often the resulting situation that candidate A or B would never get to ballot, whereas voters would be presented a two candidate choice. With IRV, the electors backing B as their first choice can allocate their preferences as #1 for B and #2 for A, which means A will win despite the split vote in first choices.
As a result, the Supreme Judicial Court found that ranked choice’s “instant runoff” provisions could not be applied to state elections, nullifying the only instance where “splitting the vote” had been a real problem.
Several of the measures would have implemented ranked-choice voting for the general election ... Voters would then rank their choices in the general election, and there would be an instant runoff to determine who wins.
President-elect Donald Trump earned just over 68 percent of the vote total, 1,470 votes, to Kamala Harris’ 29.43 percent, 663 votes ... This version of ranked-choice voting is also known as “instant runoff voting.”.
“Although I completely agree with the notion of ranked choice voting, and would be really quite pleased to do it under a sequential, instant runoff voting system, I think most folks that I’ve talked ...
Alternatively, Measure L, the City Council’s ranked choice voting initiative, would establish an instant runoff election system, giving voters the opportunity to rank candidates based on who they’d prefer to be in office.
In ranked choice voting ... The reason why has to do with the classic case against instant-runoff voting, which you might have heard if you’re friends with social choice theory nerds (as, alas, I am).
“It shows that ranked-choice voting is a failure of democracy,” Scott said, alluding to the instant runoff election format that played a crucial role in Thao’s ascent to the mayor’s office in 2022.
If the final results mirror these trends, Harris wins with 270 electoral votes ... Ranked choice voting (which is often called “instant runoff voting”) is another path to reducing the risks of the Electoral College contingency mechanism.
If we see similar results on Election Day, the races would move to an instant runoff under Maine’s ranked-choice voting system in which the votes of the lowest vote-getters would be reallocated to the ...
In other words, the council would be able to determine whether Torrance should conduct mail ballot, ranked choice or instant runoff voting, or other election methods ... Why California takes weeks to count votes, while states like Florida are faster.
Ranked choice voting explained with Little Debbie snacks ... with just 28% of the vote ... ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting gives voters a chance to rank their top three candidates, creating an instant runoff of sorts.
Unless and until we switch to a system of ranked choice (instant runoff) elections, a protest vote is a wasted vote, whether that vote is for a third-party candidate or a write-in vote ... I have voted ...
NO TO STAR VOTING. I received my Eugene Voters Pamphlet over the weekend and read with interest the text of the Star voting measure ... I’ll be voting “NO.” David Fidanque ... STARS FOR STAR VOTING ... The two candidates with the most stars go to instant runoff.
If you were disappointed in the voter turnout in the March 5 primary election, wait until the May 14 runoff ...The May vote will be the most expensive election ever held in our state ... It is called ranked choice or instant runoff voting.
