Ranked-Choice Voting
Solo – Pen & Paper – 5 Minutes
How to Run Ranked-Choice Voting
- List the candidates/options for voting
- Explain that the vote will be rank order, so they should write their top choice first, second choice second, etc.
(Emphasize that the first round may have a clear winner, and other ranks may not be tallied) - Pass out the ballots
- Have everyone vote
- Collect the ballots
- Tally the first rank vote
- If a clear majority has been reached, the voting process is done; if a clear majority has not been reached, eliminate the option with the least votes, adding all their second choice votes to the tally
- Continue adding in the second-choice votes until a majority has been reached
Example & Prompt
There are 30 people in your division who are voting on who will represent them at the upcoming board retreat. There are three candidates and you decide to use Ranked-Choice Voting to find the representative.
Pass out ballots with three spaces, and have people rank their choices in order.
After they’ve voted, count the votes of just the top rank.
After the first round, no candidate reached 16 votes, and Sandra has the least votes. You eliminate Sandra from winning, and for everyone who chose Sandra as their first choice, you now consider their second choice and add them to the other two candidates. After you do that, it’s clear that Jo is the overall winner.
Check our the video below for a longer explanation of how Ranked-Choice Voting works!
Have more questions?
Drop us a line! We’d love to hear from you and we’d love to continue to know what it is you’re curious about when it comes to this card!
Contact hello@facilitator.cards and we’ll be in touch soon!