Ranking items by preference, inside or outside the voting context, is something we do all the time. Any voter who has completed a ballot with more than one candidate has had to weigh their choices.

Data shows that in places that use RCV, voters understand and like the system. In Alaska, where voters used a statewide RCV system for the first time in 2022, 79% of voters reported RCV to be “simple” and 92% received instructions on how to rank their choices. In Maine, more than 82% of respondents found ranking their choices to be very or somewhat easy.

When a third-party candidate enters a race, they always run the risk of splitting the vote with the establishment candidate whose politics they most closely align with. If a progressive candidate enters the race, she draws votes away from the Democrat. If a conservative enters, she draws votes away from the Republican. As long as we’re only allowed to choose one candidate on the ballot, the spoiler effect will always be a problem in our elections. It also keeps us trapped in a two-party system with only two choices.

Read more: What is the spoiler effect?

Elections are expensive. Every year, local and state governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars administering low-turnout runoff elections. Since it’s an instant runoff, Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to rank backup choices, eliminating the need for a separate costly election in places that use runoffs.

For example, if Georgia had instant runoff, its 2022 runoff election for the U.S. Senate would not have been necessary. The state wouldn’t have had to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to hold a lower-turnout election, candidates wouldn’t have had to spend millions more dollars campaigning, and Georgia voters wouldn’t have been subjected to countless attack ads and candidate emails.

RCV gives voters the opportunity to express their true preferences without fear of accidentally helping candidates who they don’t support. Since successful candidates need to win a majority of the vote, they have to go beyond their base and build broader coalitions to govern. RCV also opens the door for more voices in our elections, as candidates no longer have to fear the “spoiler effect”.

When voters have the opportunity to better express their preferences, and candidates are incentivized to go beyond a narrow base to connect with the broader community, the officials who win elections need popular buy-in to maintain support. For officeholders, this backing becomes a clearer mandate to govern in exchange for more responsive governance.

RCV is used by approximately 13 million voters, in 59 cities in over 10 states and statewide in 2 states. This includes places like Alaska, Maine and New York City where RepresentUs has thrown our full support behind the locals leading the way.

Final Four and Final Five Voting (FFV) combine a Ranked Choice Voting general election with a nonpartisan primary election where every voter can participate. The primary advances the four or five candidates with the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, to a general election conducted by Ranked Choice Voting.

A good example of this is Alaska where RepresentUs led the way in bringing both nonpartisan primaries and Ranked Choice Voting for all state federal offices.

A growing number of cities like Portland, Ore. and Albany, Calif. have adopted a multi-winner, proportional version of RCV.

As a type of proportional representation, proportional RCV leads to elected bodies that more accurately reflect their communities in a way that’s resistant to gerrymandering.

RepresentUs, in partnership with Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center and Democracy Rising, created Protect The Win: An Advocate’s Guide to Implementing Ranked Choice Voting.

This comprehensive guide contains pointers for defending RCV in court and in state legislatures, ways to educate voters and candidates about RCV, case studies of recent high-profile RCV victories, and more. Learn more about the guide.