Dear John,

Voters in 14 cities and counties used ranked choice voting (RCV) on Election Day 2025, showing how this reform delivers more choice and better campaigns. At the same time, other cities and states across the nation elected leaders without majority support, or will ask voters to turn out again in the coming weeks for costly runoff elections.

Read on for highlights on the below topics, or click on the links below for full analysis:

• A successful ballot measure to bring RCV to Greenbelt, MD
• RCV elections in Fort Collins, Minneapolis, and St. Paul
• New York City’s toxic choose-one mayoral election
• California’s referendum on gerrymandering
• Runoffs, runoffs everywhere

Greenbelt, MD voters approve RCV

Greenbelt, MD residents voted to use ranked choice voting in local elections, with 67% in favor! The City Council will make the final decision on whether to adopt RCV – and voters have just sent a powerful message that they support the change.

Michelle Whittaker, the executive director of Ranked Choice Voting Maryland, shared that:

Greenbelt isn’t the only Maryland city taking steps toward RCV. City councils in Rockville and Annapolis, the state's capital, are also actively discussing whether to adopt the reform.

Learn more in this post, and visit Ranked Choice Voting Maryland to get involved in the Old Line State.

Cities show how ranked choice voting makes elections better

In this post, we share analysis from RCV elections around the country yesterday. Here are a few quick highlights: 

Fort Collins, CO used RCV for the first time this year. RCV let voters rank their favorite candidate first, and still weigh in between the two strongest candidates; 7,693 Fort Collins voters ranked someone other than a finalist as their first choice, but still had their vote count for one of the finalists with RCV. (This number is likely to increase as more votes are counted.)

Ahead of the election, several mayoral candidates shared how RCV improved the race, including winner Emily Francis:

Minnesota’s two largest cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, both had crowded, competitive, record-turnout mayoral elections with RCV. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey faced 14 challenges in his successful bid for re-election. In St. Paul, Kaohly Her will become the city's first woman and Hmong American mayor. Her will lead a historic government as she serves alongside an all-women city council, also elected with RCV. 

Because of RCV, voters in both cities were able to vote their conscience, and rank backup choices in case their top choice couldn’t win. 93% of voters ranked either Her or incumbent Melvin Carter on their ballot in St. Paul; in Minneapolis, 94% of voters weighed in between Frey and his strongest opponent.

New York mayoral election defined by “spoiler” accusations

In this post, we show a clear contrast between RCV elections and the New York mayoral race, which used choose-one voting.

Debates were highly negative, and dominated by discussion of which candidate was playing spoiler and who should drop out.

New York City should use RCV in its general elections like it already does in primaries – letting voters decide among a full array of candidates, and skipping the backroom dealmaking over who should drop out. To support RCV in the Empire State, visit Common Cause NY and Rank the Vote NYC.

California votes for Proposition 50

In the midst of a nationwide, tit-for-tat gerrymandering war, California voters passed Proposition 50 – changing the state’s congressional map to increase the number of Democratic representatives. California is the fifth state that has redrawn its congressional maps for partisan gain in recent months, following Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio.

This is a national problem that needs a national solution; until then, the state-by-state race to the bottom will continue. The best way to end gerrymandering would be a national shift to proportional representation with multi-member districts, as included in the Fair Representation Act.

Learn more about Prop 50 and the Fair Representation Act in this post, and in the video below.

Where are elections heading to runoffs?

In this post, we offer a reminder that it’s still election season for voters all across the country. Several cities and states will hold delayed runoffs in the coming weeks and months because no candidate won a majority of the vote. Those places include Albuquerque, NM; Jersey City, NJ; Santa Clara County, CA; Miami, FL; and Texas’ 18th Congressional District.

Runoffs are supposed to ensure elected officials have majority support, but turnout often plummets so much that they fail to meet that goal. A 2024 FairVote report on federal primary runoffs found that runoff turnout falls by an average of 40%. The report also found that:

RCV is a faster, cheaper, more effective way to promote majority rule.

From Minnesota to Colorado, RCV is having an impact on local elections and delivering on its promises of more voter choice and better representation. To help bring RCV to your community, join an RCV group in your state today.

Sincerely,
Meredith Sumpter
FairVote President and CEO

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