Ranked Choice Voting: Ballot Processing and Results Reporting for City of Boulder Mayor

• After first choice ranks were counted in Round 1, no candidate received over 50% of the active ballot votes. First choice counts for each candidate are listed in the Votes column and the Percentage column represents first choice ranks as a portion of the Continuing Ballots Count.
• Since no candidate received more than 50%, tabulation proceeds with an ‘elimination’ of the candidate with the lowest Vote count. The Transfer (Elimination) column lists the vote count transferred to and from each candidate, for example Candidate Hike has 42 first choice ranks eliminated, while Bike has 20 added.
• The 42 first choice ranks were redistributed (‘Transfer’) to the next valid choice on each ballot impacted by the elimination of Candidate Hike. Candidates Bike, Run, and Ski each received transfers.
• A total of 345 ballots were submitted for tabulation however the ‘Blanks’ and ‘Overvotes’ represent ballots without valid rankings, resulting in a total of 194 ‘Continuing Ballots’ eligible for counting.
• Blank (144) and Overvote (7) ballots are counted as ‘Non-transferable Total’.
• After Round 1 tabulation, 8 ballots were ‘Exhausted’ meaning all candidates on these ballots have been eliminated.

• The ‘Continuing Ballots Total’ and ‘Threshold’ values for Round 2 both decreased due to the exhausted ballots from the previous Round which are no longer active in tabulation.
• Note the increased Votes for Candidates Bike, Run, and Ski. The Votes count for each is the 1^st choice rank count from Round 1 plus the 2^nd choice count transferred from Candidate Hike’s elimination.
• Again, no candidate received over 50% of the votes on Continuing Ballots (active) counted and again, tabulation proceeds with an ‘elimination’ of the candidate with the lowest Vote count (Run).
• The 56 votes for Candidate Run were redistributed to the next choice on each ballot impacted by the elimination. In this case Candidates Bike and Ski each received vote transfers.
• After Round 2 tabulation, 2 additional ballots were ‘Exhausted’ meaning all candidates on these ballots have been eliminated.

• The ‘Continuing Ballots Total’ and ‘Threshold’ values for Round 3 both decreased again due to the exhausted ballots from the previous Round which are no longer active in tabulation.
• Note the increased Votes total for Candidates Bike and Ski from Round 2. The Votes count is the Round 2 Votes plus Transfers.
• In this round, Candidate Ski received over 50% of the Continuing Ballots vote count – the threshold to reach over 50% coming into Round 3 is 93 votes and Candidate Ski total is 102.
• Tabulation ends when a candidate receives over 50% of the active ballot vote count.
• In the final Round of tabulation, if a candidate reaches the Threshold required, the row will be shaded in green as illustrated in Round 3 of this report example.

A Round is a unit of vote counting. In Round 1, 1^st choice ranks are counted, and candidate elimination occurs if no candidate receives over 50% of the active ballot votes. In Round 2, on ballots where the 1^st choice was eliminated, votes are transferred and added to the 2^nd highest ranked candidate vote total, and the over 50% threshold is evaluated. Candidate elimination and vote transfer continues until a candidate has over 50% of the active ballot votes. Note, a candidate may receive over 50% of the active ballot votes in Round 1 or counting may progress through subsequent rounds before the threshold is reached. The maximum number of rounds in a single-winner RCV contest is the number of candidates minus 1. For example, if there are 4 candidates in the contest, the maximum number of rounds is 3. This year, there are 6 candidates, and thus the maximum number of rounds is 5.

It is the same as a Continuing Ballot. A ballot that is properly marked with 1st choice and other choices ranked so ballot is active through all rounds of tabulation.

A ballot that does not count for any candidate, e.g. contest not marked by the voter, ballot choices exhausted due to candidate elimination (lowest vote total, overvote). For example, if only 1^st and 2^nd choices are marked on the ballot and those candidates are eliminated before tabulation ends, the ballot will become inactive since there are no more choices to count.

In a round of tabulation, candidate with lowest vote total is eliminated.

Number of ballots that include a valid choice ranking for a continuing candidate. Also referred to as ‘Active’ ballots.

Number of ballots that do not have any choices ranked for the contest.

Number of ballots that no longer have any valid choices ranked. A ballot may be exhausted if the candidates ranked are eliminated before tabulation ends, or if there are no valid remaining choices due to undervote, overvote, duplicate or skipped ranking.

If the voting system determines that any of the following exist, a bipartisan team of election judges adjudicates the ballot and directs the voting system how to interpret the ballot markings. The election judges follow the Colorado Secretary of State – Voter Intent Guide – RCV Addendum in making their determination.

Colorado Election rule identifies the following RCV-specific ballot marking exceptions:

• Overvote (multiple votes in a column): Invalidates the overvoted rankings and all lower rankings marked for that contest.
• Duplicate ranking (multiple votes in a row): Candidate is credited with the highest-ranking marked; other rankings for that candidate are ignored.
• Skipped ranking: For example, marking 1^st and 3^rd choices, no second choice; choices after the skip are ignored.

On the report, this total represents the sum of the Blanks, Exhausted and Overvote ballot counts- ballots in the Round that have no valid ranking to be counted. As counting continues past Round 1, the Non-transferable Total count may increase. In the sample report, notice that the count of Exhausted ballots increased in Round 3, therefore the Non-transferable Total increased from 159 to 161.

This is the number of votes required in the Round to reach over 50% of the active ballots. If as in the sample report, the number of Continuing Ballots decreases, the Threshold number will also decrease. Notice the decrease of both numbers in Round 3 of the sample report.

For instance, in a four-person race, the voting system will perform a maximum of three “instant run-off” rounds of tabulation. Thus, it is technically accurate that the voting system would never count a ballot’s final choice. However, according to Colorado election law, we must provide in our ballot design the same number of choices as there are candidates (or we may limit choices to the maximum allowed by the voting system with a minimum of three required).

RCVis is open-source Ranked-Choice Voting Visualization software used by several other state and local governments to share RCV contest results.

RCVis offers an interactive view of contest results as well as different graphical views and supplements to RCV pdf report to convey contest tabulation logic and vote counting results.