In the November 2004 elections, San Francisco inaugurated a different method for choosing municipal officials: ranked-choice voting. As its name suggests, ranked-choice voting allows residents to select first-, second- and third-choice candidates on the same ballot. Also known as instant run-off voting, the ranked-choice method precludes the need for costly additional elections. So while vote counting can take a bit longer, the savings can be substantial. For example, in the 2004 Board of Supervisors race, the Department of Elections determined all winners within three days of the polls closing and avoided a December run-off election that purportedly would have cost the City millions of dollars.

Vote counting takes longer than traditional electronic voting because the process can be complicated. The Department of Elections begins by tallying all first-choice votes. If a candidate receives over 50% of the votes in this category, he or she is declared the winner.  However, if no candidate can claim a majority, then the person receiving the fewest first-choice votes is automatically eliminated. The votes each person cast for the eliminated candidate are then transferred to that voter's second choice candidate. Vote tallying is repeated and any candidate receiving a majority is the winner. If there is no clear winner, the process of elimination and vote transfer begins again until one candidate can claim a majority.

Voter confusion is an obvious drawback to this method. There is also the likelihood of a person simply filling in the familiar name of the incumbent as a second or third choice if he has not previously considered a full set of ranked choices. In other words, a voter might be unaware of the weight his second- or third-choices could carry. A person could also be ignorant of the fact that filling in only a first-choice selection precludes his participation in the "instant run-off."

To ensure that you don't make these mistakes, see the San Francisco Department of Elections Web site for more information including a helpful FAQs page, an interactive demo and how to register to vote.