What is Ranked Choice Voting?

San Francisco uses ranked choice voting to decide elections, and that’s a good thing—mostly. In a ranked choice election, your vote always counts for your top pick first. But if your preferred candidate doesn't have enough support to win, your vote transfers to your second choice. This process can keep voters from feeling like they’re throwing their vote away by supporting a less popular candidate. If the United States had used ranked choice voting for the 2000 presidential election, a lot of Ralph Nader votes would have likely transferred to Al Gore, and the last two decades of US democracy probably look very different.

But ranked choice voting can also lead to some unexpected outcomes on election night, so it’s important to understand exactly how the process works and vote strategically. Without a ranked choice voting strategy, similar leading candidates can end up splitting similar votes, clearing a path for a candidate who was previously behind to pull ahead and win at the last minute. So as a voter, you need to understand how ranked choice voting actually works, and show up on Election Day armed with a strategy.

How does ranked choice voting work?

You’ll rank the candidates by how much you support them (but you don’t have to rank all the candidates—more on that later).

1. If a candidate gets more than 50 percent of first-place votes, they win the election.

2. But if no one gets 50 percent of the vote right off the bat, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. 

3. The people who voted for the eliminated candidate will see their votes redistributed to their next-favorite candidate, and votes are recounted.

4. This process repeats until one candidate has over 50 percent of the vote.

What’s the best ranked choice voting strategy?

1. First, consider any candidates you really don't like and leave them off your ballot entirely. Because, as you’ll see below, if you rank them, they could end up winning.

2. Next, make your top pick your first choice.

3. Rank the other candidates you like in order of preference. 

Follow these steps and your vote won’t be wasted. Because if you only rank the candidate you like best and they get eliminated, your ballot is “exhausted.” That means your vote won’t matter in future ranked choice voting rounds, and it won’t help stop the candidate you hate from being elected. If there are multiple candidates you can live with, ranking only one candidate is a risky strategy in a ranked choice election.

The bottom line? If you don’t want someone to get elected, don’t risk giving them your vote. Leave them off your ballot completely, and rank every candidate you like in your order of preference. Make sure your vote has maximum impact—don’t give a politician you can’t stand a chance to win.

A Simple Way to Understand Ranked Choice Voting

Let’s make this even easier to understand with an example. Say five emoji are running for office. You’ve got the hilarious candidate 🤣, the hip candidate 😎, the cowboy candidate 🤠, the party candidate 🥳, and… the literal sh*t candidate 💩.

Round One

1. 🤣 25 votes

2. 🥳 25 votes

3. 🤠 20 votes

4. 💩 20 votes

5. 😎 10 votes

Round Two

No candidate has 50 percent of the vote yet, so the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The second choices of people who voted for 😎 are tallied and redistributed. 💩 hasn’t been eliminated yet, but they’re so far behind, there’s no way they could win, right? 

1. 🥳 30 votes (+5)

2. 🤣 27 votes (+2)

3. 💩 22 votes (+2)

4. 🤠 21 votes (+1)

Round Three

Now 🤠 has the fewest votes—their 21 votes are redistributed to the remaining second choice candidates. And look at that, 💩 is still hanging around. They’re even moving up.

1. 🥳 38 votes (+8)

2. 💩 32 votes (+10)

3. 🤣 30 votes (+3)

Round Four

With only two remaining candidates, 🤣’s votes are redistributed between 🥳 and 💩. But a lot of 🤣 voters ONLY voted for 🤣—they didn’t rank any other choices. Ten of 🤣 voters’ ballots are “exhausted” so they don’t count in this round, and they go in the 🗑️.

That gives 💩 enough of an edge to give them 51 percent of the vote, and the majority needed to secure the election.

1. 💩 46 votes (+14)

2. 🥳 44 votes (+6)

What’s the Lesson for San Francisco Voters?

Improbably, despite being the first choice of just 20 percent of voters, the sh*ttiest candidate came from way behind to win. If more 🤣 voters had ranked other candidates, 💩 wouldn’t have had the votes to get elected. It’s why it’s so important for you to rank all the candidates you can live with, and leave the candidates you hate off the ballot—so we’re not all stuck with 💩 elected officials.

This November, we’ll use ranked choice voting to choose the Mayor, City Attorney, District Attorney, Sheriff, Treasurer, and Supervisors for Districts 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. This election, remember the best ranked choice election strategy: rank your favorite candidate first, then rank all the candidates you can live with, and leave the candidates you can’t stand off the ballot. 

Otherwise, you may find yourself with nothing but 💩.