WHERE IS RCV USED?

Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a proven voting method that has been used for major elections in the U.S. and other countries for over a century. Multi-winner RCV was invented in the 1850s as a proportional representation system to be used in multi-winner elections. In the 1870s, it was adapted to the single-winner form. It is sometimes referred to as instant runoff voting (IRV), preferential voting, proportional representation, single transferable vote (STV), and a number of other names.

RCV is already being used all across the country in a wide range of jurisdictions. As of the 2022 elections, RCV has been adopted in 62 jurisdictions. Some prominent examples include:

Alaska
Maine
New York City
Cambridge, MA
Minneapolis, MN
San Francisco, CA

RCV has also been used to nominate candidates for a general election. It was used by 2020 Democratic primary voters in Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, and Wyoming. Additionally, RCV was used by the Virginia Republican Party to select their nominees for statewide office and select congressional districts in 2021.

The map below shows where RCV is used across the U.S., including current use, states with local option laws, military and overseas (UOCAVA) voting, future use, past use, and RCV in other countries.

WHERE IS RCV USED? PDF