With RCV, voters cast a single ballot and rank candidates in the order they prefer (first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on). Voters’ first choices are then counted. If a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, meaning more than 50%, that candidate wins. If no candidate has a majority of first-choice votes, the race is decided by an “instant runoff” (RCV is also known as Instant-Runoff Voting, or IRV). In the instant runoff process, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters who picked that candidate as their first choice will have their vote moved to their second choice automatically. This continues until a candidate has over 50% of the vote and wins the election.

Learn more on our About Ranked Choice Voting page or watch our explainer video