Instant Runoff Voting
Elections for Cary Town Council will be different this fall. On May 24, 2007, the Cary Town Council voted to support the Wake County Board of Elections’ request to become the first municipality in North Carolina to use the Instant Runoff form of voting as part of a joint pilot program. Read the news release.
Instant Runoff Voting eliminates the need for a separate runoff election and ensures that the winner receives support from a majority of voters.
How It Works
Using a ballot with three columns, voters can select up to three candidates in the order of their preference: first, second, and third.
View an illustration of how to mark an Instant Runoff ballot.
Ballots are counted using only the votes for first choice. The candidate who receives a majority of first preference votes wins the election. Second and third choice votes are not considered when a first choice winner emerges.
If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, then the two candidates with the most first choice votes enter the Instant Runoff. All other candidates are eliminated. Ballots that selected either of the two candidates as their second choice are manually separated and added to the respective candidate’s total. See an example of an instant runoff election.
Resources
Wake County Board of Elections - Instant Runoff voting in Cary
Town of Cary Instant Runoff Voting presentation