Interactive: What is ranked-choice voting and how does it work?

This is the last weekend for early voting in New York City’s primary elections. Those officially take place on Tuesday. New Yorkers can vote for city officials like mayor, public advocate, comptroller and more — all using ranked-choice voting.

But what exactly is ranked-choice voting?

It was first implemented in the 2021 primary elections, after New Yorkers passed a 2019 ballot measure to use ranked-choice in primary and special elections for city officials. Proponents of ranked-choice voting say it gives voters more power and forces candidates to acknowledge common ground among themselves.

In the city’s primary elections, New Yorkers can rank their top five candidates for each city office. Although voters can rank fewer than five candidates, their top-choice candidate could be eliminated as votes are counted. New Yorkers can practice this ranking process on NYC Votes’ website.

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When votes are counted, they initially go toward voters’ first-choice candidates. But if no candidate receives more than 50% of the total vote, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to voters’ second-choice candidates. This process is repeated until only two candidates remain. Of those two, the candidate with the most votes wins the election.

Scroll below to see how your vote could move between candidates in a ranked-choice voting scenario.

Consider this example with 100 votes. In ranked-choice voting, if a candidate receives at least 50% of first-choice votes, they automatically win the race.

But in the likely scenario that none of the candidates receive at least 50% of first-choice votes, low-ranking candidates are eliminated and their votes are redistributed.

Once all votes are cast, they are distributed between the nine candidates.

At first, your vote goes to your first-choice candidate.

If your first-choice candidate has enough votes, they move on to the next round.

But if your candidate has the fewest votes in the next round, they are eliminated. Then your vote goes to your second-choice candidate.

As candidates are eliminated, their votes are redistributed to voters’ next-highest-ranked choice.

Your vote could stay with your second-choice candidate.

But if your second choice is also eliminated, your vote goes to your third choice, and so on.

If your third-choice candidate never gets eliminated, your vote ultimately counts toward them.

But that doesn’t guarantee that they will win the race. Votes are redistributed until only two candidates remain, and of those two candidates, the candidate with the most votes wins.

Of course, there is always the scenario where your candidate does win the race.

And a scenario where every candidate you ranked is eliminated, meaning your vote ultimately does not count toward the election.