How Ranked-Choice Voting Works And Why It’s Used In San Francisco

For local elections in San Francisco, voters don’t just choose their favorite single candidate. They ordered them from most to least preferred. Ranked-choice voting hgas eliminated the need for runoff elections since 2004. While some politicians, including former President Donald Trump, inaccurately insist ranked-choice voting favors one party over the other or propels unpopular candidates to victory, experts say that isn’t the case. We explain how the system works and hear some benefits and critiques. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Fixing Our City is part of the San Francisco Chronicle’s SFNext Project Got a tip, question, comment? Email us at [email protected] Correction: An earlier version of this episode contained an error about the ranking rules. As of Oct. 12, the episode has been updated to reflect that ranking multiple candidates first will invalidate a ballot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices