IRV is used on the municipal, state, and national level in governments around the world, as well as by non-governmental organizations and corporations.

In the United States

State and local governments currently using IRV

• Arkansas (adopted 2005, first used 2006; only overseas voters in runoffs)
• Aspen, CO (adopted 2007, first used 2009; mayor and multi-seat variation for city council)
• Burlington, VT (adopted 2005, first used 2006; mayoral elections)
• Hendersonville, North Carolina (adopted 2007 and 2009 as pilot; multi-seat variations for city council)
• Louisiana (adopted and first used 1990s; only for overseas and military voters in federal and state runoffs)
• Minneapolis, MN (adopted 2006; first used in 2009 for mayor and city council)
• San Francisco, CA (adopted 2002, first used 2004; mayor, Board of Supervisors and most city offices)
• South Carolina (adopted and first used 2006; only for overseas voters in federal and state runoffs)
• Takoma Park, MD (adopted 2006, first used 2007; mayor and city council)

Upcoming (as of January 2010) implementations

• Berkeley, CA (adopted 2004; to be used in November 2010 for mayor and city council)
• Memphis, TN (adopted 2008; scheduled for 2011 for mayor and several other city offices)
• Oakland, CA (adopted 2006; to be used in November 2010 for mayor and city council)
• San Leandro, CA (to be used in November 2010 for mayor and city council)
• Springfield, IL (adopted 2007; scheduled for November 2011 for overseas voters)
• St. Paul, MN (adopted 2009, scheduled for November 2011)
• Telluride, CO (adopted 2008; scheduled for November 2011 for mayoral elections)

Advisory, Option or Contingent Measure in the United States

• Ferndale, MI (adopted 2004)
• Santa Clara County, CA (adopted 1998)
• Santa Fe, NM (adopted 2008)
• Sarasota, FL (adopted 2007)
• Vancouver, WA (adopted 1999)

*Ann Arbor (MI), New York (NY), Yonkers (NY) and Cary (NC) have used IRV in the past.

**Cambridge (MA) uses a similar ranked voting system for its city council elections, but it is the choice voting method of proportional voting where each of the nine winners needs a little more than 10% of the vote. Davis (CA) passed an advisory measure in 2006 in favor of this system.

In International Governments

• Australia, to elect its House of Representaives since 1949 and to elect most state and territory lower houses.
• Bosnia, for certain sub-national elections, since 2000.
• Bougainville, first used IRV for presidential elections in December 2008.
• Fiji, since 1997.
• Papua New Guinea, since 2001.
• The Republic of Ireland, to elect its president since 1922.
• London, to elect its mayor since 2000. Also, several other UK cities use IRV to elect their mayors.
• Malta, to elect its president since 1921.
• Sri Lanka, to elect its president since 1978.
• India, indirectly for president and to fill vacancies.
• Conservative Party in Canada for leadership elections.
• Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, Canada for leadership elections.
• Liberal Party of New Zealand (Optional Preferential Voting)
• Labour Party in the UK for leadership elections.

In American Colleges and Universities

Interest in fair elections systems for student elections around the country has been gaining momentum. More and more schools are following the recommendations of Robert's Rules of Order and adopting instant runoff voting (also called "preferential voting") for single-winner elections like student body president. Additionally, some schools have added the choice voting method of full representation for their legislative elections. Georgetown University, University of California at San Diego, University of Iowa, North Carolina State University and Santa Fe Community College all adopted instant runoff voting over the two past academic years (Santa Fe Community College being the first community college to implement IRV).

The Spring 2008 student election season brought another successful round of instant runoff voting elections, including the University of Iowa's highest turnout student election ever. Recent elections at Georgetown, MIT, CalTech, Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Stanford, Princeton and many others and the implementation of IRV this year at some of the best universities of the country also showcase IRV's growing use on college campuses. Each time IRV has allowed better voter choice and wider voter participation by accommodating multiple candidates in single seat races and assuring that a "spoiler effect" will not result in undemocratic outcomes. IRV allows all voters to vote for their favorite candidate without fear of helping elect their least favorite candidate, and it ensures that the winner enjoys true support from a majority of the voters.

Not only are many colleges switching to IRV, already more than 50% of the nation's top thirty universities have adopted instant runoff voting and/or choice voting for student government elections on campus (based on rankings by U.S. News and World Report).

Note: If you know of any colleges or universities that use IRV that are not on our list, please send us a note at: irv(at)fairvote.org