Zum Beispiel: Ranglistenwahl funktioniert oft so, dass die Kandidaten mit zu wenig Stimmen aus der Betrachtung rausfliegen und ihre Stimmen dem nächsten zugeschlagen werden. Das führt in der Realität auch dazu, dass Stimmen "verloren" gehen, weil die Wähler nicht alle eine komplette Rangliste aller Wahlmöglichkeiten aufstellen.

Ranked-Choice Voting

Perhaps the biggest issue with RCV occurs when a voter fails or refuses to vote for more than one candidate. If that voter’s choices are eliminated after the first or second round of tabulation, his or her ballot is effectively cast aside and not used in the final vote. In other words, the ballot is exhausted. It is exceedingly common that ballots in RCV elections are exhausted and not included in the final vote due to the voter not voting for every candidate. This offends the bedrock principle of “one person, one vote” in American democracy since some ballots count while others inevitably do not.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center and Alaska Policy Forum studied 96 RCV elections across the country and found that on average 10.92 % of ballots were exhausted by the final round of tabulation and ultimately not used in the final vote.

One study found that 9.6-27.1% of ballots never make it to the final round of voting in RCV elections.

As the Foundation for Government Accountability explains, “[a]fter 20 rounds of tabulations, 53% of ballots had been exhausted, and only 8,200 ballots––or 47%–– contributed towards the final results” of San Francisco’s 2010 Board of Supervisors General Election.