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Specifically, this process consists of counting the top picks on ballots will be counted for respective candidates initially; if no one gets a majority of the votes cast in the first round, the second choice picks for the last-place finisher are reallocated among the other candidates and this process is repeated until someone wins a majority.<ref>https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)</ref>

Specifically, this process consists of counting the top picks on ballots will be counted for respective candidates initially; if no one gets a majority of the votes cast in the first round, the second choice picks for the last-place finisher are reallocated among the other candidates and this process is repeated until someone wins a majority.<ref>https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)</ref>

There are three major variants of this method:

There are three major variants of this method (in all cases, a voter may choose to rank '''no''' candidates in a specific race):

*Optional Preferential, where a voter may rank as many (or as few) candidates as desired. For example, if there are five candidates for a position, the voter may rank all five, or only four, three, two, or even only one candidate.

*'''Optional Preferential''', where a voter may rank as many (or as few) candidates as desired.  

*Partial Preferential, where a voter can only rank a maximum which is fewer than the number of candidates, but can still rank fewer.  For example, a ballot may permit a voter to rank only his/her top three choices out of five.  But the voter can rank three, only two, or even only one.

*Full Preferential, where a voter must rank all candidates shown, else the ballot is invalid.

For example, if there are five candidates in a race, and the voter wishes to vote in that race:

*Under Optional Preferential, the voter may rank all five, or only four, three, two, or even only one candidate.

*Under Partial Preferential, if the ballot permits a voter to rank only his/her top three choices out of five, the voter can rank three, only two, or even only one candidate.

*Under Full Preferential, the voter must rank all five candidates listed.

The pretextual argument for ranked-choice voting is to overcome unfair bias against third-party candidates, which indirectly ensures a [[two-party system]]; by giving voters an option to rank their candidates in order of preference, for those who rank a third-party candidate as their top choice and either the [[Democrat]] or [[Republican]] nominee as their second pick, it becomes nearly guaranteed that their vote will go to the latter if no candidate initially garners a majority.

The pretextual argument for ranked-choice voting is to overcome unfair bias against third-party candidates, which indirectly ensures a [[two-party system]]; by giving voters an option to rank their candidates in order of preference, for those who rank a third-party candidate as their top choice and either the [[Democrat]] or [[Republican]] nominee as their second pick, it becomes nearly guaranteed that their vote will go to the latter if no candidate initially garners a majority.