# How not to do a ranked choice election

**URL:** <https://community.goactuary.com/t/how-not-to-do-a-ranked-choice-election/3294>\
**Category:** Political Topics\
**Created:** [July 1, 2021, 3:56am UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/how-not-to-do-a-ranked-choice-election/3294 "2021-07-01T03:56:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SteveGrondin](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/stevegrondin/32/3257_2.png) [@SteveGrondin](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SteveGrondin)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 3:56am UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/how-not-to-do-a-ranked-choice-election/3294/1 "2021-07-01T03:56:27Z")

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Brought to you by the NYC BOE. Honestly, I thought ranked choice had the benefit of being an instant runoff. Why the delay between announcing the results of the several rounds? Except perhaps to make sure you don’t count the test ballots.

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**Author:** ![Triweasel](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/triweasel/32/159_2.png) [@Triweasel](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Triweasel)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 7:09am UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/how-not-to-do-a-ranked-choice-election/3294/2 "2021-07-01T07:09:46Z")

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I think they are still waiting on the mail-in ballots.

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**Author:** ![PatientZombie](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/patientzombie/32/391_2.png) [@PatientZombie](https://community.goactuary.com/u/PatientZombie)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 12:05pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/how-not-to-do-a-ranked-choice-election/3294/3 "2021-07-01T12:05:09Z")

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How do they handle the eliminations? Do they just take off last place and reallocate? or do they remove everyone below a certain percentage (assume 5%) and reallocate?

Also, does Yang’s resignation from the race reallocate his votes first or at the same time as the bottom runner(s)?

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**Author:** ![SteveGrondin](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/stevegrondin/32/3257_2.png) [@SteveGrondin](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SteveGrondin)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/how-not-to-do-a-ranked-choice-election/3294/4 "2021-07-01T12:38:29Z")

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Oh, if you have a “mail by election date/receive by election date + x days” rule, that would be a reason to have tentative results.

To think about PZ’s question, I would expect the same rules would apply. If candidate X announces they are no longer running after the ballots are printed but gain the most votes, do they have to formally decline after results are tallied, or can they go “Oh I won, sure I’ll do it!”? But I don’t know what the existing rules are, or how the RCV regulation was written.  
My general understanding is lowest 1 choice candidate gets votes reassigned to next higher choice still in the running. Rinse, repeat until a majority is found.