What is ranked-choice voting?

In a normal vote you get one choice, and the option with the most votes wins, even if most people didn't want it. Ranked-choice voting asks for a little more: your first choice, your second, your third, and so on.

That extra information lets the count find the option that a majority of the group can get behind, not just the one with the biggest single block of fans. The most common way to count ranked ballots is called an instant runoff, and that's what this page describes.

1. Count everyone's first choice.
2. If one option has more than half of those votes, it wins and the count is over.
3. If not, the option with the fewest votes is knocked out. Every ballot that had it first now counts for that voter's next choice that's still in the race.
4. Count again, and repeat until one option has a majority.

It's called an instant runoff because it gives the same answer as holding a new vote after each knockout (as long as nobody changes their mind), without making anyone vote twice. Here's a dinner vote between nine friends:

Lupo Pizza led the first round, so a show of hands would have picked it. But four of nine isn't a majority, and the two Taverna Kreta fans both preferred Thai Corner to pizza. Once their votes moved, Thai Corner won five to four.

• No split vote. Two similar options (two Italian places, two weekends in May) no longer split their fans and hand the win to something else.
• No tactical voting. You can put your real favourite first. If it drops out, your vote isn't wasted; it moves to your next choice.
• A winner most people accept. The final round always has a majority behind the winner, so fewer people feel steamrolled.
• It's quick for voters. Dragging a handful of options into order takes seconds, and people only need to care about their top few.

No voting method is perfect, and instant runoff has a known weak spot: it only looks at first choices when deciding what to knock out. An option that's almost everyone's second choice, but few people's first, can drop out early even though the whole group would have been happy with it.

It also asks more of voters when the list is long. Ranking 15 options carefully is a chore. For long lists, rating each option, or a quick yes or no per option, often works better. The guide to fair group decisions compares the methods side by side.

Ranked-choice voting isn't just for picking restaurants. Australia has used it for its House of Representatives for over a century, Ireland uses it to elect its president, and in the United States it's used for elections in Maine and Alaska and for New York City's primaries. The Academy Awards have picked Best Picture with a ranked ballot since 2009.

You don't need to count anything by hand. On Pickly you add the options, share one link, and everyone drags the options into their order. The results page runs the instant runoff as votes arrive and shows every round, so the group can see exactly why the winner won. It's free for up to 20 voters, and nobody needs an account. See how a ranked poll works on Pickly.