VotablyRanked choice
Everyone ranks the options in order of preference. Instant-runoff rounds eliminate the weakest option round by round until one choice has a majority.
- Free
- No account
- Share link
How it works
Add your options and share one link. No account is needed to create the poll or to vote.
Everyone drags the options into their own order of preference, from favorite to least favorite.
Instant-runoff rounds eliminate the weakest option and redistribute its votes until one option has a majority.
What is ranked choice voting?
Ranked choice voting, also called instant runoff or RCV, asks everyone to rank the options in order of preference instead of picking just one. Nobody has to guess which choice is most likely to win before they vote, because a lower-ranked pick still counts if a favorite gets eliminated early.
Counting happens in rounds. If one option already has a majority of first-choice votes, it wins outright. If not, the option with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and every ballot that ranked it first moves to that voter's next choice. Votably repeats this instant-runoff process automatically and shows each round so the group can see exactly how the winner was reached, not just the final tally.
Ranked choice tends to produce a winner most of the group can live with, since it rewards options with broad support rather than options with a small, passionate plurality. It works well whenever there are three or more real contenders and a simple yes-or-no vote would split the group unfairly.
Related ways to decide
Best for
Picking a restaurant or trip
A ranked choice poll finds the pick with the broadest support when everyone has a different favorite, so nobody feels like they lost a straight vote.
Deciding on a movie or show
Rank the shortlist and let instant runoff surface the option most of the group can agree on, even with five or six choices on the table.
Choosing between close options
When two or three choices are genuinely close, ranking lets people express a real second choice instead of forcing an all-or-nothing pick.
When to use something else
Ranked choice suits a shortlist where people have real preferences between options. If the group just wants to accept or reject each option with no strategy involved, approval voting is simpler. For a shortlist rated with more nuance, try score, which offers STAR voting's Score Then Automatic Runoff mode. To compare only two options at a time, head to head (pairwise) voting works matchup by matchup instead of full rankings.
Questions people ask
- Is there a free ranked choice poll maker with no sign up?
- Yes. Votably is a free ranked choice poll maker that needs no account for the creator or for voters. Add your options, share one link, and everyone ranks them from their phone. Instant-runoff rounds count the ballots automatically until one option has a majority.
- Is ranked choice the same as instant runoff?
- Yes, ranked choice voting and instant runoff describe the same counting method. Voters rank options in order of preference, and the option with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated round by round, with its ballots moving to each voter's next choice, until one option has a majority.
- How many people can vote in a ranked choice poll?
- A ranked choice poll on Votably works well for groups of three to fifteen people, which covers most friend groups, families, and small teams choosing between a shortlist of restaurants, trips, or other options.
Decisions are kept for 30 days, then deleted. One vote per phone. The creator decides when results are revealed.