Where Ranked Choice Voting is Used

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Using Ranked Choice Voting (22 jurisdictions):

Arden, Delaware: In use for town council elections since the early twentieth century in RCV's multi-winner, proportional form. Used for the seven-seat Board of Assessors, elected at-large
Basalt, Colorado: Adopted in 2002 for mayoral races only with three or more candidates. First used in April 2020.
Benton County, Oregon: Adopted in 2016 for general elections for county offices of sheriff and commissioner. First used in November 2020.
Berkeley, California: Adopted in 2004 and has been used since 2010 to elect the mayor, city council and city auditor.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Adopted in 1941 in RCV's multi-winner, proportional form. Used to elect nine seats to the city council and six seats to the school board, both at-large.
Carbondale, Colorado: Adopted in 2002 for mayoral races with three or more candidates. Not yet used as of March 2021.
Eastpointe, Michigan: Adopted multi-winner, proportional form of RCV to resolve a federal Voting Rights Act lawsuit and first used in November 2019. Used to fill city council vacancy in 2020.
Las Cruces, New Mexico: Adopted by the city council in 2018 and used since 2019 for all municipal elections, including mayor.
State of Maine: Adopted in 2016 and first used in 2018 for all state and federal primary elections, and all general elections for Congress. Extended to apply to the general election for president beginning in November 2020 and presidential primary elections beginning in 2024.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: Adopted in 2006 and used since 2009, in elections for 22 city offices, including mayor and city council in single-winner elections, and some multi-winner park board seats.
New York City: Adopted in 2019 and to be used in all city primary and special elections starting in 2021.
Oakland, California: Adopted in 2006 and used since 2010 for a total of 18 city offices, including mayor and city council.
Payson, Utah: A local options bill was passed in 2018, and the city opted-in for city council seats in November 2019 (at-large, winner take-all) and will use it for mayor and council in 2021
Portland, Maine: Adopted in 2010 and used since 2011 for electing mayor. Expanded in 2020 to also apply to city council and school board.
San Francisco, California: Adopted in 2002 and used since 2004 to elect the mayor, city attorney, Board of Supervisors and five additional citywide offices.
San Leandro, California: Adopted as option in 2000 charter amendment and used since 2010 to elect the mayor and city council.
Santa Fe, New Mexico: Adopted in 2008 and used since March 2018 for mayor, city council, and municipal judge.
St. Louis Park, Minnesota: Adopted in 2018 and used since 2019 for mayor and city council races.
St. Paul, Minnesota: Adopted in 2009 and used since 2011 to elect the mayor and city council.
Takoma Park, Maryland: Adopted in 2006 and used since 2007 in all elections for mayor and city council.
Telluride, Colorado: Adopted in 2008 for mayoral elections with at least three candidates. Used in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
Vineyard, Utah: A local options bill was passed in 2018, and the city opted-in for city council seats in November 2019 (at-large, winner take-all) and will use it for mayor and council in 2021.

To see how RCV is working, visit FairVote's Data on RCV resource page.

Upcoming Implementations of RCV (10 jurisdictions):

State of Alaska: Adopted in 2020 to be used in 2022 for all legislative and statewide elections. It will also be used for the next Presidential election in 2024. If a special election is needed to fill a vacant office it could be used sooner than 2022.
Albany, California: Adopted by voters in 2020 to institute proportional ranked choice voting for City Council and School Board beginning in 2022.
Amherst, Massachusetts: Adopted charter in 2018 with ranked choice voting and passing implementation statute before projected first use in 2021.
Bloomington, Minnesota: Adopted by voters in 2020 to amend the city charter and used to elect the mayor and city council members beginning in 2021.
Boulder, Colorado: Adopted by voters in 2020 for elections for mayor, beginning in 2023.
Burlington, Vermont: Adopted by voters in 2021 for city council, beginning in 2022 (contingent on state legislative approval)
Easthampton, Massachusetts: Adopted in 2019 and to be used in mayoral and all single-seat city council elections starting in 2021.
Eureka, California: Adopted in 2020 and to be used for mayor and city council elections beginning in 2022.
Minnetonka, Minnesota: Adopted in 2020 to be used combing the city's nonpartisan primary elections into a single general election to elect the mayor and city council, beginning in 2021.
Palm Desert, California: Adopted January 2020 to be used for city council elections in November 2022 as part of a California Voting Rights Act settlement. One district elected in single winner elections, with the rest of the city electing in staggered two-winner multi winner elections (proportional).

**Presidential Nominations (Democratic party primaries and caucuses*):**

Alaska: All voters in Democratic primary in April 2020
Nevada: All early voters in Democratic caucuses in February 2020
Hawaii: All voters in Democratic primary in May 2020
Kansas: All voters in Democratic primary in May 2020
Maine: All voters in all presidential primaries in 2024
Wyoming: All voters in Democratic primary in April 2020

* 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 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 is party chair at its state convention. The party will use RCV at an unassembled state convention on May 8, 2021 to choose its nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. *Source

Advisory / Option for Future Elections:

Davis, California: Approved by voters in 2006 as an advisory measure for proportional, multi-winner form of RCV. Awaiting state law change for general law cities.
Ferndale, Michigan: Adopted by voters in 2004. Awaiting implementation readiness.
Memphis, Tennessee: Adopted by voters in 2008, and approved again by voters in 2018. Awaiting implementation readiness.
Santa Clara County, California: Adopted by voters in 1998 as option for county elections in 1998.
Sarasota, Florida: Adopted by voters in 2007, awaiting implementation readiness.
Vancouver, Washington: Adopted by voters in 1999 as option in charter.
State of Virginia: Local options bill passed in 2020. Cities can opt in starting in 2022.( State and county arms of both the Republican and Democratic Party used RCV for some party nomination contest in 2020.)
State of Utah: A local options bill was passed in 2018 and two cities opted in for 2019. More cities could choose to opt in for the future which take place every two years.

For Overseas Voters in Runoffs

Arkansas: Adopted in 2005, first used 2006, and extended to all local runoffs in 2007.
Alabama: By agreement with a federal court, used in special election for U.S. House, 2013; became law for all federal primary runoffs in 2015.
Georgia: Adopted in 2021, and will be first used in 2022 for military and overseas voters.
Louisiana: Adopted and used since the 1990s for state and federal general election runoffs; also includes out of state military voters.
Mississippi: Starting 2014, agreed in federal court consent degree to use RCV ballots in federal runoffs.
South Carolina: Adopted and first used in 2006 for state and federal runoffs.
Springfield, Illinois: Adopted in 2007 and first used in 2011.

RCV on Campus

As of March 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 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); Scotland (multi=winner form for all local government elections. In India, Nepal and Pakistan elected officials use the multi-winner from 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