In short: Ranked choice voting counts ranked ballots as an instant runoff: a candidate who is the first choice on more than half of the ballots wins; otherwise the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their ballots move to each voter's next choice, round after round, until someone has more than half of the ballots still counting. In the example, Harbor wins in round 3 with 13 of 21 continuing ballots.
How to use the ranked choice voting calculator
- Paste the ballots, one per line, each voter's choices in order: Lakeside > Downtown > Harbor. A voter does not have to rank everyone. When many ballots are the same, write the count first, as in 8: Lakeside > Downtown.
- List the candidates if you want a fixed order. It is optional. A list catches typos (a name on a ballot that is not on the list is skipped and reported) and sets the order the tie rule uses.
- Choose the tie rule before you look at the result, so nobody can say it was picked to suit a candidate.
- Read the rounds. The table shows each candidate's votes and share in every round; the list under it says who was eliminated, why, and where each of their ballots went. Copy it as text or CSV, or share a link that opens the same count.
The steps are the same as how to count ranked choice votes by hand, so the list doubles as a check on a paper count. The count updates as you type, so you can paste a whole column of results from a form and fix any line it reports. The ballots stay in your browser: the share link keeps them in the part of the address after the #, which browsers never send to a server.
How an instant runoff count works, with an example
The example the calculator opens with is a team of 22 choosing a venue for an offsite. In round 1 Lakeside has the most first choices, 8, but that is not more than half of 22, so the count goes on:
| Candidate | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harbor | 5 22.7% | 7 33.3% | 13 61.9% |
| Lakeside | 8 36.4% | 8 38.1% | 8 38.1% |
| Downtown | 6 27.3% | 6 28.6% | out |
| Mountain | 3 13.6% | out | out |
| Exhausted | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Continuing ballots | 22 | 21 | 21 |
| Needed to win | 12 | 11 | 11 |
- Round 1. No majority: 12 of 22 needed. Mountain has the fewest votes, 3, and is eliminated: 2 to Harbor and 1 exhausted.
- Round 2. No majority: 11 of 21 needed. Downtown has the fewest votes, 6, and is eliminated: 6 to Harbor.
- Round 3. Harbor has 13 of 21 continuing ballots, more than half, and wins.
Lakeside led round 1 and still lost, because more of the team preferred Harbor once their own first choices were out. That is the point of ranked ballots: a voter whose favorite has no chance still has a say between the leaders, without a second vote on another day. One ballot ranked only Mountain, so it was exhausted when Mountain went, and from round 2 the majority is counted out of 21, not 22.
Majority of continuing ballots and exhausted ballots
The calculator follows the definitions in Maine's ranked choice voting law, 21-A M.R.S. section 723-A. A continuing ballot is one that is not exhausted, and an exhausted ballot is, in the statute's words, one that "does not rank any continuing candidate". Each continuing ballot counts as one vote for its highest-ranked candidate still in the count, and the last-place candidate, the one with the fewest votes, is removed before the next round.
There is one difference in when the count stops, and it never changes the winner. The calculator stops as soon as someone has more than half of the continuing ballots. Maine's procedure, after the first round, carries on until two candidates are left and declares the one with more votes the winner. A candidate with a majority of the continuing ballots keeps it as others are eliminated, because the ballots they hold never move, so both ways end with the same name. Removing several trailing candidates at once, when even their combined votes could not overtake the candidate above them, saves rounds without changing the result either.
Ties for last place
Ties are rare with many voters and common with a handful, so the rule matters for a team vote. With the default rule the calculator looks back: of the candidates level for last place, the one with fewer votes in the previous round goes, then the round before, back to round 1, and if they were level in every round, the one listed last goes. Take the ballots 8: A, 5: B > A, 4: C > B and 1: D > C. In round 2, B and C have 5 votes each; C had fewer in round 1, so C is eliminated and B wins in round 3.
Public elections write their own rule into law. Maine's says a tie between last-place candidates "must be decided by lot", and that the result must be recorded and reused in a recount. To follow a rule like that, decide the order first, in whatever way your group agrees, list the candidates in that order and choose the list order rule. Two candidates level in the final round are a different case: the calculator reports the tie and leaves it to your rules.
Ranked choice for team decisions
Ranked choice suits any group choice with more than two options where a plain show of hands would split the vote: an offsite venue, a team name, a project codename, which of five features to build next, or the chair of a club. Collect the rankings with a form, a chat poll or paper slips, paste them here and share the link so everyone can see every round. It finds one winner. The meeting timer keeps the discussion before the vote to its time box, and when the vote is about people rather than options, the random team generator and the round robin generator handle splitting a group and scheduling a league.
Esta calculadora también está en español: votación por orden de preferencia.
Questions people ask
How does ranked choice voting work?
Each voter ranks the candidates in order of preference. If one candidate is the first choice on more than half of the ballots, they win. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and each of their ballots moves to its next choice still in the count. That repeats until someone has more than half of the ballots still counting. In the example above, Lakeside leads round 1 with 8 of 22, but Harbor wins in round 3 with 13 of 21.
How do you count ranked choice votes by hand?
Sort the ballots into piles by first choice and count each pile. If no pile holds more than half of the ballots, take the smallest pile and deal each ballot onto the pile of its next choice still in the count, setting aside any ballot with no choices left. Recount and repeat. The calculator does exactly that, and shows each round so you can check a hand count against it.
What is an exhausted ballot?
A ballot that ranks no candidate still in the count, because every candidate it ranked has been eliminated. It stops counting from that round on, so the majority is worked out from the continuing ballots, the ones that still count for someone. That is why the number needed to win can go down from one round to the next.
What happens if two candidates tie for last place?
By default the calculator looks back: the tied candidate who had fewer votes in the round before goes, then the round before that, back to round 1. If they were level in every round, the one listed last goes. You can choose the list order alone instead. Public elections set their own rule; Maine's law decides such a tie by lot. Two candidates level in the final round is a tie the count cannot break, and the calculator says so instead of picking one.
Is ranked choice voting the same as instant runoff?
Instant runoff voting is the usual way of counting ranked ballots for a single winner, and it is what most people mean by ranked choice voting in the US. Ranked ballots can also be counted other ways, such as the single transferable vote for several seats, which this calculator does not do: it finds one winner.
Can I use it with Google Forms or Excel?
Yes. In Google Forms, ask one question per rank (first choice, second choice and so on) with the same options; the responses sheet in Google Sheets then has one column per rank. Select those columns, copy and paste them here: each row becomes a ballot. A row copied from Excel works the same way, because the tabs between cells separate the choices.