But ranked choice voting advocates also suffered a pretty serious shellacking on Election Day, though they’re managing to be much less fatalistic about it. “It was a false start down a pathway that people do not like,

The vast majority of elections in the US are guided by plurality rule: Each voter selects one candidate, and the person with the most votes wins. Critics say this system, while simple to grasp, means voters can’t fully express their views when more than two candidates are running for an office.

Initiatives related to ranked choice voting in political primaries and general elections were on the ballots in eight states and the District of Columbia.

Alaska and Maine already use ranked-choice voting, which supporters say could lead to more moderate politics. But it has been rejected in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.

A measure to implement top-four, all-candidate primaries and ranked-choice voting in the general election has failed in Colorado, Decision Desk HQ projects. Coloradans voted down the proposed change,