Learn More About Ranked Choice Voting – CT Voters First

WHERE IS RCV USED?

14 Million Voters in 29 Red and Blue States Use RCV

Party Primaries/Caucuses

One or both of the major parties use RCV in regular party primaries, conventions or caucuses in 16 states including POTUS primaries in six states.

Military, Overseas and Municipal

In an additional 13 states — “red” and “blue” alike — RCV is used for military and overseas voters or in one or more municipal elections.

INTERNATIONALLY

RCV has long been used in federal and party elections in Australia, in certain elections in Northern Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand and India, in party elections in Canada, for the Mayor of London, in the Academy Awards and elsewhere.

Will Voters Find RCV Confusing?

Voters who have used it find RCV easy and intuitive: “It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.”
RCV ballot error rates are low, comparable to traditional ‘pick one’ voting
Voters who have used RCV prefer it.

DOES RCV VIOLATE 'ONE PERSON—ONE VOTE'?

Voters express their preferences by ranking candidates, but their one vote is only counted for their final choice.
Every court that has examined the issue has “rightly” upheld RCV (CT Attorney General Tong, Jan. 2024).
Every RCV vote is counted and counted equally, one time and one time only, precisely as cast.

WILL RCV SLOW THE REPORTING OF ELECTION RESULTS?

Votes in an RCV contest can be tabulated as quickly as our current elections on CT’s modern, RCV-capable voting tabulators.
Most RCV jurisdictions release results on the night of or the day after the election; RCV jurisdictions that report results more slowly do so for reasons having nothing to do with RCV.

DOES RCV DISENFRANCHISE VOTERS WHO DO NOT RANK ANY FINALIST CANDIDATE?

To use the words of CT’s Attorney General, the suggestion that RCV somehow disenfranchises voters who do not rank an RCV finalist “mischaracterizes RCV.” (CT AG Tong, Jan. 2024)
Ballots that do not rank any finalist candidate (what some call “exhausted ballots”) “are counted in the election, they are simply counted as votes for losing candidates, just as if a voter had selected a losing candidate in a plurality or run-off election.” (US Circuit Court of Appeals, 2011) (emphasis by the court)
There is nothing wrong or surprising in the fact that some voters do not rank any candidate who made it to the final run-off round. Some voters will be consciously indifferent between certain candidates with others making an active choice not to rank some candidates.
Far from disenfranchising any voter, more ballots count in the outcome of RCV races (17% more on average) than in traditional ‘pick one’ races, precisely because of voters’ ability to make backup choices.

LET'S BUILD A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER