Strategy 1 Achieve Equality of Voice and Representation
Ranked-Choice Voting

Recommendation 1.2
Introduce ranked-choice voting in presidential, congressional, and state elections.
In order to implement Recommendation 1.2 by 2026, the Commission proposes the following milestones to complete by year-end of:
2021
- Finalize standards through the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines of the Elections Assistance Commission for what it means to run a ranked-choice voting election so a voting equipment vendor can have machines that are consistent with the standards and have them ready to execute those
2022
- Ranked-choice voting is used for federal or state-level elections in at least 15 states
- Fifty percent of all Americans say they know what ranked-choice voting is
- Congress passes an updated version of the Help America Vote Act to support election security, including federal funding for equipment. This law should also require that any voting equipment purchased with federal dollars be standardized for use in ranked-choice elections
2023
- Ranked-choice voting used at some level of the system in at least thirty-five states, with balance between red and blue states doing so
- Laws in place in ten states for using ranked-choice voting in federal elections, including Congressional elections
2024
- At least three states establish a non-winner-take-all method (possibly ranked-choice but other methods are also available) for their state legislative elections
- Both parties have built ranked-choice voting into their presidential nominating rules
2025
- Ranked-choice voting is used at the local, state or federal in every state
2026
- A supermajority of Americans say they know what ranked-choice voting is