How to display RCV election results

Deb Otis | 

With the exponential growth of ranked choice voting (RCV) over the last decade, election administrators, media outlets, and other organizations may be looking for ways to display RCV election results. 

Below is a compilation of our recommended best practices for displaying results in a clear way:

Do:

  • Focus on the final round. In elections where no candidate earned a majority of first choices, multiple rounds of counting occur before the winner is identified. When displaying results, treat the final round (the round where the winner is elected) as the most important data point, with earlier rounds as secondary information, space permitting. The key piece of information to convey is “who won the election,” not “who was ahead in first choices.”
  • Keep visualizations simple. Bar charts or simple tables are typically the clearest way to convey this information. More complex visualizations (like Sankey diagrams) may help enhance some readers’ experiences, but should not be used in isolation. 
  • Include written explanations. In addition to charts or graphs, small written explanations can go a long way. For example, the bar chart below from RCVis.com includes a 1-2 sentence descriptor for each round – within the body of the chart. 
  • If only first-choices are available, make that abundantly clear and use cautious language when describing the outcome. The candidate with the most first-choice preferences may be “ahead” at the end of the first round of counting, but they did not “win” unless they earned an outright majority. 

Don’t:

  • Show first-choice results in isolation, or without context. First-choice results should always be secondary to final results when final results are available. If final results are not yet available, first-choice results should be clearly labeled as such – within the title or body of the results bar chart or table (not on another part of the results page). There should also be a reminder of when full RCV results are expected.
  • Neglect to mention that it’s an RCV election. Readers will need that information to understand why multiple rounds are being presented.

A series of bar charts helps viewers visualize how ballots are transferred between rounds. Create a bar chart using RCVis.com or follow this style. 

Santa Fe mayoral election results, 2018

A round-by-round table condenses all information into a single table, and is one of the most space-efficient ways to show RCV results. Create a table using RCVis.com or follow this style. 

Santa Fe mayoral election results, 2018

Additional resources

RCVis is a free app for users to create visualizations of RCV election results. Users can upload their election results, choose from a variety of visualization options, and embed the visualizations on other websites (like FairVote did here). 

The Center for Civic Design has researched and published best practices for results display and ballot design for RCV elections.