How are ballots counted?
Charlottesville is using ranked choice voting in the Democratic primary for City Council on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. There are three candidates running for two open seats, and voters can rank all three candidates on their ballot: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
This page explains how the ballots are counted and demonstrates the benefits of ranked choice:
- No one has to vote strategically. You can't waste your vote by ranking your favorite candidate 1st.
- Ranking a 2nd choice won't hurt your favorite candidate. Your 2nd choice is only counted after your favorite has enough votes to win.
For more questions about filling out the ballot, please see our Ballot Guide.
How many votes does it take to win a ranked choice election?
It depends on how many winners there are:
Some elections have one winner, like a race for Governor or President. In a ranked choice election with one winner, the winning candidate needs to earn more than 1/2 the votes. Why a half? Because a candidate with more than 1/2 the votes will have more votes than all the other candidates, no matter how many people run.
In a race with two winners, candidates need to earn more than 1/3 of the votes to win a seat. Why a third? Because only two candidates can win more than 1/3 of the votes. Once two candidates win seats, all the other candidates must have less than 1/3 of the votes, and the race is over.
In Charlottesville's next election cycle, City Council will have three open seats, so candidates would need to earn more than 1/4 of the votes to win a seat.
In general, the share of votes required to win a race with N open seats is 1/(N + 1).
Votes Needed To Win
# of winners
share of votes
Can two people win in Round 1?
Yes! If two candidates get enough 1st-choice votes to win, the race is over.
Suppose there are three candidates running: Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. Roughly 6,000 people tend to vote in the June City Council primary. With 6,000 voters, candidates would need to earn more than 2,000 votes to win a seat.
Ranked choice ballots are counted in rounds. In Round 1, the 1st-choice votes are counted. In the example pictured here, Washington and Jefferson each got more than 2,000 votes, so they both win seats. Madison only got 15% of the 1st-choice votes, which isn't enough to win.
Two Winners in Round 1
candidate
Round 1
When will there be two rounds?
The election will have two rounds if only one candidate wins in Round 1.
Suppose Washington gets 50% of the 1st-choice votes, but Jefferson and Madison each get only 25%. Then we'll need another round to determine the second winner.
If only one candidate wins in Round 1, the winner's extra votes help pick the second winner in Round 2.
Here's why:
Washington's 3,000 supporters are half the electorate. They deserve their fair share of representation, but Washington only needs 2,000 votes to win a seat. The 1,000 extra votes that Washington earned are effectively wasted: the extra votes increase Washington's margin of victory, but they don't change who wins. If Washington's supporters know he's very popular, they may even be tempted to vote strategically and rank Jefferson or Madison first so their vote isn't wasted. Strategic voters would rather pick the second winner than give their vote to Washington, who is likely to win with or without their help.
With ranked choice voting, you don't have to vote strategically. If your favorite candidate gets more votes than they need to win in Round 1, your 2nd choice counts in Round 2.
One Winner in Round 1
candidate
Round 1
Who wins in Round 2?
In this example, Washington's 1,000 extra votes will go to his voters' 2nd-choice candidates in Round 2.
Let's say Washington's supporters tend to prefer Madison over Jefferson. If 60% of Washington's voters ranked Madison 2nd, then Madison will get 60% of Washington's 1,000 extra votes. With 600 more votes in Round 2, Madison finishes with 2,100 total votes, which is enough to win the second seat.
Jefferson only gets 400 of Washington's extra votes (40%). He finishes with 1,900 votes, which is not enough to win.
Notice that both Round 1 and Round 2 have 6,000 total votes. Every voter gets one vote and has an equal say in the election. The transfer process moves Washington's extra votes to their 2nd-choice candidates so the votes aren't wasted.
An Election with Two Rounds
candidate
Round 1
Round 2
Difference
Question: Which voters have their 2nd choice count in Round 2?
Why use ranked choice voting?
More Choices.
Ranked choice voting lets every voter express their honest views about the candidates:
- You can't waste your vote by ranking your favorite candidate 1st.
- You can't hurt your favorite candidate by ranking the others.
Ranking all the candidates ensures your vote will count in every round, no matter how many rounds are needed. If you only rank one candidate, you're basically saying, "Once my favorite is elected, I don't care who the second winner is."
More Voices.
Ranked choice voting with two or more winners is sometimes called proportional ranked choice voting because it ensures voters pick winners in (rough) proportion to their share of the electorate. A large group of voters, like Washington's supporters, can elect their favorite candidate and help select the second-winner, too. Large minority groups, like Madison's supporters, can win representation, as well.
Better Campaigns.
The ranked choice process encourages candidates to build coalitions and bridge political divides. Candidates don't just want 1st choice votes from their strongest supporters. They also work to earn 2nd choice votes from people who may rank someone else 1st.
