How ranked-choice voting works

The Minneapolis and St. Paul 2025 municipal elections are here.

Here’s how to vote, check your registration and see a sample ballot.

Both cities employ ranked-choice voting, sometimes known as instant runoff voting.

Here’s everything you need to know about casting your ranked-choice ballot in either of the Twin Cities.

Ranked-choice voting allows voters to select multiple candidates for one office in order of preference.

In Minneapolis, voters can rank only three candidates per office. In St. Paul, voters can rank up to six. Voters can rank any candidate on their ballot, from the top choice to their last choice.

A candidate needs a majority of the votes to win.

If one candidate does not receive more than 50% of the first-choice ballots, the ballots are recounted. The candidates who have the lowest percentage of votes and mathematically cannot reach 50% will be eliminated, and those ballots will be reallocated to the voters’ second choice.

The process continues until one candidate reaches more than 50% of the votes.

Only select one candidate for a single choice and only rank candidates once. You don’t have to rank all the candidates.

Ramsey County also suggests voters fill in the box next to the name instead of writing numbers.

Races will be called at different times.

If races are called by first-choice voting alone, Smith said the unofficial winners will likely be announced on election night. Any races that go to second- or third-choice voting will be announced the following day.

Casper Hill, a spokesperson for Ramsey County, said in an email that if no candidate wins a majority of St. Paul votes on the first-choice ballots, the county will use tabulation software to reallocate votes and declare a winner on election night.

If voters are nervous about the process, Smith suggests they print out a sample ballot and practice.