1. Ranked Choice Voting
  2. Details about Ranked Choice Voting
  3. Where Ranked Choice Voting is Used

Where Ranked Choice Voting is Used

As of September 2021, 22 jurisdictions used RCV in their most recent elections, 20 more will use RCV for the first time in November 2021, and at least 50 jurisdictions are projected to use RCV in either their next election or the one following. That represents 2 states, 1 county, and 27 cities outside of Utah, with 23 Utah city councils voting to use RCV and 19 doing so in either 2019 or 2021.

 

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Using Ranked Choice Voting (23 jurisdictions outside of Utah):

Utah Cities Using RCV in 2021 (19 cities)

23 Utah cities and towns opted into a municipal pilot program authorized by the state legislature, including two that used RCV in their most recent elections in 2019. These municipalities will use RCV for city council and mayoral elections in 2021. At-large seats are elected with the winner-take-all form of multi-winner RCV.

The following Utah cities opted into the 2021 RCV pilot program but did not have enough candidates on the ballot to use RCV. 

Two Utah cities RCV in 2019, with city councils in both cities voting to use it again in 2021

1st implementations of RCV in 2022-2023 (7 jurisdictions):

Presidential Nominations (Democratic party primaries and caucuses*): 

* Democratic state parties conduct an RCV tally until all candidates exceeded 15% of the vote statewide and in each congressional district, after which delegates were allocated proportionally. Party decisions about 2024 will be made closer to that date.

Party Elections/Conventions:

The following is a partial list. Minor parties in the United States also frequently use ranked choice voting for internal contests.

  • Delaware Democratic Party: The Delaware Democratic Party used RCV to choose delegates to the Democratic Party national convention, but only in cases where there was a tie because they couldn’t do an in-person second ballot. Votes had to be tallied by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. *Source
  • Democrats Abroad Convention: The Democrats Abroad Convention used RCV to choose delegates to the Democratic Party national convention on May 16, 2020 *Source
  • Indiana Republican Party: The Indiana Republican Party used RCV to nominate its candidate for Attorney General at their virtual convention on July 10, 2020. *Source and *Source
  • Minnesota Democratic Party: The Minnesota Democratic Party used RCV for endorsements for various offices during the the State Convention balloting period from May 26 through May 31, 2020 *Source
  • Nebraska Democratic Party: The Nebraska Democratic Party used RCV to choose State Party Officers, County Party Officers in counties with more than 50,000 people. County party convention dates varied; the deadline to submit ballots for the state convention was June 9, 2020 *Source
  • New Mexico Democratic Party: The New Mexico Democratic Party used RCV to choose District-Level delegates to the DNC on June 13, 2020 *Source
  • Oklahoma Democratic Party: The Oklahoma Democratic Party used RCV to choose Pledged Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) Delegates; district-level delegates; At-Large Delegates and Alternates on June 6, 2020 *Source
  • Utah Republican Party: RCV was used by the Utah Republican Party to determine which candidates advanced directly to the general election and which advanced to the June 30 primary. A candidate who received at least 60 percent support in the final round of the RCV tally advanced alone to the primary; if not, the final two candidates advanced to the primary. Candidates for Congress, Governor, Attorney General, state school board, and state legislature were subject to these rules. This occurred on April 25, 2020 *Source
  • Utah Democratic Party: RCV was used by the Utah Democratic Party to elect party officers and determine which candidates advanced to the June 30 primary.. Races for U.S. House, Governor, National Committee officers, and Party Secretary used RCV. This occurred on April 25, 2020. *Source
  • Virginia Republican Party: The Republican Party of Virginia in 2020 used RCV at several congressional district conventions and to select its party chair at its state convention. In May 2021, the party used RCV at an unassembled state convention with more than 30,000 delegates to choose its nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. *Source

Advisory / Option for Future Elections:

For Overseas Voters in Runoffs

RCV on Campus

As of June 2021, more than 85 colleges and universities in the United States use ranked choice voting to elect some or all student government positions - often in its proportional form as well as its single winner form. That means that over a million students across the country every year are empowered with more choice and fairer representation in electing student leaders.

Full list of colleges and universities using RCV for student government elections

Private Organizations and Corporations

Recommended by Robert’s Rules of Order for organizational elections conducted by mail, ranked choice voting is used widely among private associations organizations. Probably its highest profile use by a private organization is in awarding of the Oscars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which uses the proportional, multi-winner form of RCV to nominate all major awards categories and the single winner form of RCV for selecting Best Picture. RCV in its proportional form is commonly used by British organizations as well. 

Too many organizations use RCV for a comprehensive list. Here is a partial list of private organizations and corporations using RCV.

Public Elections Internationally

Ranked choice voting is used by every voter in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, often with the multi-winner, proportional form of it (“single transferable vote”). RCV also is used in party-run elections and local elections throughout the English-speaking world, including national leaders of the major conservative parties in Canada and New Zealand and major liberal parties in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Examples of uses of RCV include: Australia (federal House of Representatives and nearly all state and local government elections and a multi-winner form of it for senate elections); Ireland (for president and multi-winner form for parliament and many local elections); Malta (multi-winner form for parliament); New Zealand (for mayor and city council in major cities such as Wellington, along with health board elections); Northern Ireland (multi-winner form for regional parliament and most local elections); and Scotland (multi-winner form for all local government elections).  In India, Nepal, and Pakistan elected officials use the multi-winner form of RCV to select their national senates and in the case of India its president. Forms of RCV are also used to elect the mayor of London and president of Sri Lanka.

International election systems

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