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State of Election Administration Legislation 2023 Year-End Report: Ranked-choice voting
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Absentee/mail-in voting • Early voting • Electoral systems • Voting rights for convicted felons • Private funding • Primary systems • Redistricting • Voter identification |
December 15, 2023
By Ballotpedia staff
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) Ranked-choice voting (RCV) is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, that candidate is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the next-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.
Heading into 2023, 17 states had adopted RCV voting either on the state or local level, while two states prohibited RCV. In total, Democrats (68 bills) introduced more than twice the number of RCV related bills than Republicans (25) did this year. Three states – Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota – passed Republican sponsored bills prohibiting RCV this year. Two other Republican sponsored bans were vetoed in Arizona and North Dakota. Two states, California and Vermont, expanded the use of RCV through Democratic sponsored legislation. Finally, Oregon lawmakers referred a ballot measure to the state’s voters which proposes using ranked-choice voting statewide.
Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
State election laws are changing. Keeping track of the latest developments in all 50 states can seem like an impossible job.
Here's the solution: Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker.
Ballotpedia's Election Administration Tracker sets the industry standard for ease of use, flexibility, and raw power. But that's just the beginning of what it can do:
- Ballotpedia's election experts provide daily updates on bills and other relevant political developments.
- We translate complex bill text into easy-to-understand summaries written in everyday language.
- And because it's from Ballotpedia, our Tracker is guaranteed to be neutral, unbiased, and nonpartisan.
About the authors
Joe Greaney is a staff writer on Ballotpedia's Marquee Team.
Janie Valentine is a team lead on Ballotpedia's Marquee Team.
Ballotpedia Editor in Chief Geoff Pallay reviewed the report and provided feedback, as did Managing Editor Cory Eucalitto.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
- About Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker
- Voting laws in the United States
- Election Policy
