Voters in Skokie, Illinois, will decide on a ballot initiative to adopt ranked-choice voting (RCV) for municipal elections on April 1. This will be the first RCV-related ballot measure decided in 2025.
Since 1915, there have been more than 150 ballot measures to adopt or repeal ranked-choice voting systems. Ashtabula, Ohio, was the first jurisdiction to approve a ranked-choice voting measure in 1915.
Between 1965 and 2024, 79 ranked-choice voting (RCV) local ballot measures were on the ballot in 58 jurisdictions in 19 states.
- Ballotpedia has identified 71 local ballot measures to adopt RCV. Voters approved 52 (78.9%) and rejected 15 (21.1%).
- There were eight local ballot measures to repeal RCV. Voters approved four (50.0%) and rejected four (50.0%).
- The year with the most local RCV ballot measures was 2022, with nine measures across nine jurisdictions. Voters approved seven of them.
- The state with the most local ballot measures related to RCV is California, where there have been 13.
In 2024, voters rejected state ballot measures related to ranked-choice voting or similar electoral system changes in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon. While none of the state measures passed, five local ballot measures supporting RCV were approved. Additionally, one local measure to repeal RCV was rejected. Voters in Alaska also rejected an attempt to repeal RCV.
In Illinois, voters approved a ranked-choice voting ballot measure in Oak Park in 2024, along with a non-binding question in Peoria. In 2022, voters approved a ballot measure in Evanston, which a state circuit court struck down in Nov. 2024. Springfield adopted RCV for military and overseas voters in 2007.
Here’s how the system would work in Skokie, which has both single-seat and multi-seat elections:
- Voters would rank candidates for mayor, clerk, and village board trustees in order of preference.
- A candidate for mayor, clerk, or district-level trustee would be elected if they receive more than 50% of first-choice votes.
- A candidate for at-large trustee would be elected if they receive more than one-third of first-choice votes.
- If no candidate reaches the required threshold, vote redistribution would occur. Surplus votes from elected candidates would be partially transferred to the next-ranked candidate. If no candidate meets the threshold after transfers, the candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated, and their votes would be reassigned to the next-ranked candidate. This process would continue until all seats are filled.
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