RCV In Action
Explore real elections to see how ranked-choice voting plays out—and what happens to your vote
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) changes how your vote is cast and counted. Instead of selecting one candidate, voters rank several. If no candidate earns a majority in the first round, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those votes redistributed based on next-choice rankings. This process continues until someone crosses the 50% threshold—or until there are no more votes to transfer.
But not every vote makes it to the final round. When voters haven’t ranked any remaining candidates, their ballots are “exhausted” and not counted in later rounds—effectively removing their voices from the final decision.
Below, you can see the effects of RCV in actual elections, including how multiple rounds of tabulation unfold and how many ballots are ultimately left behind.
Ballot Exhaustion:
Occurs when all the candidates you ranked are eliminated, leaving your vote out of the final tally.