Ballot usage analysis and design recommendations for RCV elections

A collaboration between FairVote and the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center, this report analyzes patterns of ballot use and develops new recommendations for ballot design for policymakers and election administrators.

Key findings from our analysis include:

• The rate of inactive ballots is higher for contests that do not permit voters to rank all candidates.
• “Connect the arrow” ballots lead to more errors than “fill in the oval” ballots.
• Error rate is not associated with ballot style, but is associated with a change in ballot style, underscoring the need for voter education for any change to election procedures.

Based on our analysis, we recommend the following best practices for policy-makers and election administrators:

• Allow at least 5 rankings. More is fine, but do not limit to less than 5.
• Use ballots with oval markings rather than arrow markings.
• Explore the viability of “write in the number” ballots with optical character recognition as a way to simplify ballots and reduce error.