This November, the residents of Corvallis will be faced with two elections that have more than two candidates. This means that ranked choice voting will come into play again. Here’s a brief tutorial on how to do that.
First, decide who you would want to win. This is your number one choice and they should get your “1st Choice” ranking.
Looking at the candidates remaining, choose who you would want to win if your first choice does not win. They will get you “2nd Choice” vote. Your third choice will get the next vote. There are only three choices, so if there were to be more than three candidates, you would be ranking only your top three choices.
How the Votes are Counted
When the ranked choice votes are counted, if no one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, then the count goes on. The candidate with the lowest percentage of first choice votes will then be eliminated. The votes with that eliminated candidate as their first choice will be looked at again to determine who their second choice was, and that candidate will get their vote.
The elimination process continues until one candidate has over 50% of the vote. That person is the winner.
The City of Corvallis has a handy video if you need more information. You’ll find it here.
One More Note
The ranked choice votes will be counted last because they may be more complicated than other voting. This means that for the City Council candidates for Ward 9 and the mayoral candidates will have a bit longer to wait for their election results.
Benton County voting officials have trained all vote counters and observers at this point.
By Marissa Roberts
Correction: There were a few errors in our explanation. The City Recorder has provided the correct infrmation.
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