Ranked Choice Voting

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is an election contest format where voters rank candidates in order of preference instead of choosing just one. 

No, RCV will only be used for county elected officials submitted to voters in general elections; not for party primaries. Cities can also choose to use RCV to elect their officials. RCV is used for some races in Corvallis and Portland.  

Please Note: Currently, the Benton County Charter allows for the use of RCV to elect County Commissioners and the County Sheriff. However, the Sheriff’s office is a non-partisan office that nominates no more than two candidates for the General Election Ballot. Therefore, there is no need for RCV for the sheriff position. 

No. If you rank a single candidate multiple times – for instance for rank 1, 2, and 3 – this does not help them. Only the highest ranking that you give that candidate will be accepted and each lower ranking for the same candidate is ignored as if you had skipped that ranking.

No. If you fill in the voting oval for more than one candidate in the same “rank” column, (Ex: ranking two candidates under the first-choice column) this is called an overvote. If there is an overvote, then the vote is automatically skipped in the tabulation process for that race.

To vote for a candidate whose name is not on the ballot, simply write their name on the “Write-in” line and fill in an oval to rank your write-in choice. 

With ranked choice voting, you still only get one vote. Your second and third ranks are like backup choices. They are only counted if your first-choice candidate is defeated or, in multi-winner contests, if your first-choice candidate receives more votes than they need to be elected.

To win a ranked choice election, the candidate must receive the majority of votes cast for that race (50% +1). 
 
After all the votes have been received, then the votes are counted as follows: 

1. If a candidate listed on the ballot receives more than half of the first-choice votes cast (50% +1), that candidate will be announced as the unofficial winner.   

2. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, then the tallying of votes continues as follows: 
a. The candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is defeated. 
b. The first-choice votes for the defeated candidate are recast using the voters’ second choices. If voters have not chosen any other choices, then their vote is nullified. 
c. If there is now a candidate with more than 50% of the vote, that person is declared the winning candidate. If not, the process of defeating candidates and recasting votes continues until a candidate has received more than 50% of the vote or until only two candidates remain.   
d. When only two candidates remain, then the candidate with the most votes is declared the winning candidate. 

On election night, voters will be able to see the first posting of unofficial results after 8:00 PM. These results are incomplete because they are from all ballots collected up to that time. Ballots can continue to be collected and tallied for 7 days, as long as they were postmarked prior to the deadline on election day.

The first posting of unofficial RCV election results might include a large number of overvotes and undervotes. These numbers will likely decrease as ballot processing continues. Because of the complicated RCV tallying process, reported numbers can continue to shift until election results are certified.   

An overvote occurs when a voter makes more selections in a contest than is allowed. This results in a spoiled vote — it is not counted in the final tally.  

* In a single-choice contest, an overvote occurs when a voter selects more than one candidate.  

* In a ranked-choice contest, an overvote occurs when a voter selects more than one candidate at the same ranking level. For example, they rank Candidate A as first and second choice and Candidate B as third choice, or they rank Candidates A, B and C all as first choice.  

* In any contest, a pen rest or tiny stray mark that falls within a bubble on the ballot can be read by a counting machine, an extremely sensitive device, as a vote for an additional candidate.  

An overvote might be the result of simple error or a lack of understanding about how RCV works. 

An undervote occurs when the number of choices selected by a voter in an election is less than the maximum number allowed for that election.  

* In a single-choice contest, an undervote occurs when the voter selects none of the available candidates or a write-in.  

* In a ranked-choice contest, an undervote occurs when the voter selects only a first choice or first and second choice when three ranked choices are allowed. NOTE: If only a first choice is indicated, this would actually count as two undervotes.  

An undervote can be intentional (e.g., protest votes, tactical voting or abstaining) or unintentional (e.g., oversight on the voter’s part or misunderstanding about how RCV works). 

Elections staff must run every eligible ballot that was postmarked prior to the election day deadline and is received within the allowed 7-day window, as well as ballots that are cured through the challenge period before final results can be tabulated. As this process moves ahead and the ranked-choice tabulation process is carried out, you can expect to see the numbers change, over and under votes are no exception to this.

There is a 21-day challenge period immediately following the election. Once the challenge period has passed, all ballots are tallied using standard ranked choice voting methodology (see above).