Ranked Choice Voting
We support using Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) for Sacramento’s local elections.
Ranked Choice Voting Gives Voters More Power and Reduces Money in Politics!
Electing candidates who best reflect the community’s values and priorities.
Positive, civil campaigns focused on the issues people care about.
Improving voter participation and letting diverse voices be heard.
Producing a majority winner in ONE higher-turnout election. No runoffs.
Saving money for candidates and taxpayers.
Voters vote their conscience, eliminating vote -splitting/”spoilers.”
A simple upgrade to the way we vote that benefits voters and candidates.
What is Ranked Choice Voting?
RCV has been used in S.F. for 20 years in 8 languages
How it Works
RCV gives voters the freedom to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third, and so forth. If your top choice can’t win, then your vote counts for your second choice, so that it isn’t wasted.
This allows voters to express their true preferences, supporting more representative outcomes and fewer wasted votes. This ONE-minute video shows how votes are counted to achieve a majority winner in one election.
RCV would solve a number of problems that are created by Sacramento’s current election system.
| CURRENT PROBLEM | RCV’s SOLUTION |
| Most local races in Sacramento are decided in Primary Elections, which consistently have extremely low voter turnout. | RCV moves all local races to the General Election, where more people vote. This produces election outcomes that better reflect what most of the community wants. |
| CURRENT PROBLEM | RCV’s SOLUTION |
| The election system encourages candidates to run campaigns that are narrowly tailored to their “base.” | RCV motivates candidates reach out to the whole community with positive campaigns focused on all the issues. |
| CURRENT PROBLEM | RCV’s SOLUTION |
| Runoffs burden candidates with needing to raise extreme amounts of money, eliminating good candidates who aren’t connected to high-moneyed interests. | RCV makes candidates less reliant on fundraising, so they can spend more time talking with voters, including a broader range of voters and not just their “base.” |
| CURRENT PROBLEM | RCV’s SOLUTION |
| Runoffs force candidates and their supporters to stretch their dollars and activism across two campaigns instead of one. Those resources could be better spent elsewhere, like state or federal elections where activists are equally passionate. | RCV creates an “instant runoff,” consolidating decisions in one higher turn-out General Election. This saves candidates money and reduces $$$ in politics and notoriously negative campaigns. |
| CURRENT PROBLEM | RCV’s SOLUTION |
| In Sacramento’s current system, two like-minded candidates risk “splitting the vote,” often ruining their community’s chance of electing either one. | RCV elections are more fair and representative by enabling voters to indicate a “back-up choice” in case their #1 choice falls short. This way the voter has more power and their vote is not wasted. |
RCV is already used in 51 other cities, counties, and states, where voters overwhelmingly prefer RCV to “run-off systems” like Sacramento’s
Better Ballot Sacramento supports using RCV for Sacramento’s local elections. This includes the City of Sacramento and the County of Sacramento.
We are the League of Women Voters of Sacramento County, the Democratic Party of Sacramento County, Third Act Sacramento, Sacramento’s local Indivisible chapter, and many chartered local Democratic clubs, including the Sacramento Latino Democratic Club, the Sacramento Stonewall Democratic Club, the Sacramento County Young Democrats, the John F. Kennedy Democratic Club of Sacramento County, and the Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento.
We are growing our coalition and working to explain the benefits of RCV.
Our goal is to have a Charter Amendment on the local ballot by 2026 to adopt RCV for Sacramento’s local elections.
Take Action! Sign our Open Letter to City Council asking them to place Ranked Choice Voting on the 2026 ballot.
Link Here. We’ll list organizational affiliation for identification purposes only (i.e., if you sign and list an organization, it doesn’t mean your organization has endorsed the letter).