Ranked‑choice voting explained to Wilmington intergovernmental committee

Jason Hoover, chair of the nonprofit Rank the Vote Delaware, presented ranked‑choice voting to the Wilmington City Council Intergovernmental Committee on March 5, 2025, saying the system “ensures a majority of the votes to win” and reduces what he called vote‑splitting in crowded races.

Hoover told the committee that plurality (first‑past‑the‑post) systems can produce winners who lack majority support and that ranked‑choice voting — also called instant runoff voting — simulates successive runoffs in a single ballot so a candidate must achieve a majority. “The only rule under a ranked choice voting election is that a candidate must get a majority of the votes to win,” Hoover said.

Hoover described how ranked ballots allow voters to list first, second and third choices so when lower‑placed candidates are eliminated, their votes transfer to remaining preferences. He cited places using the system — including New York City, San Francisco, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii — and noted the format is in use in parts of 28 states. He said studies and local examples show increased representation of women and people of color in some municipalities after adopting ranked‑choice voting.

Hoover provided voter experience statistics: in Maine’s first ranked‑choice statewide use, “94% of voters ranked chose to rank multiple candidates” and 90% called the experience excellent; he said New York City reported 83% ranked multiple candidates and 95% found it simple to use. He also warned that “the devil’s in the details” and that jurisdictions implement ranked‑choice voting differently (for example capping the number of choices or combining primaries).

Committee members asked implementation questions. Council Member Shanae Darby, chair of the intergovernmental committee, asked, “so what’s next? Like, what is the game plan for to, like, possibly implement this in the future?” Hoover replied that Wilmington’s charter cannot simply be changed by the city council and that a state process would be required in some cases: “Wilmington City Council can't write a change to the charter. Right? So we would have to request that it, we would have to make the request to the State for it to be changed on Wilmington's behalf.”

Hoover said most current voting machines can support ranked‑choice tabulation via an additional software module and that the largest implementation cost is public education: mailers, Q&A sessions and outreach so voters understand the new ballot. He suggested consulting Election Commissioner Albence for details about the city’s specific machines.

President Congo asked why Newark can pursue changes locally while Wilmington appears to need state permission; Hoover said he could not answer the legal specifics for Newark’s process and had consulted Newark contacts. Council Member Willower thanked Hoover for clarifying mechanics and benefits.

No committee action or vote was taken on ranked‑choice voting at the March 5 meeting. Hoover and council members discussed possible next steps and emphasized that any local rollout would depend on the legal pathway chosen and on public education about how ballots and tabulation would change.

The committee then moved to the next agenda item.