Too often today candidates win election to office like Mayor and Governor despite being opposed by most voters. That is, most voters voted for candidates other than the winner.  

Also known as instant runoff voting, ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates by preference. If one candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, she is declared the winner. If no candidate takes a majority, then a series of virtual runoffs commences (virtual because voting takes place just once, and “runoffs” occur in the tallying process). In each runoff round, the last-place finisher is eliminated from contention. All ballots on which that candidate was ranked first are now repurposed and given to the second-choice candidate. That process continues until a candidate wins with the majority of the votes.

With ranked choice voting, the winning candidate will be the one the majority of people prefer. 

Check out these videos to learn more: 

‘OPINION: Ranked Choice Voting’ opinion piece by Jessica Szilagyion Fox 5 Atlanta

‘What is Ranked Choice Voting?’ 

‘How does ranked-choice voting work?’ by Minnesota Public Radio News