Why the order of eliminations matters
Ranked-choice voting is often counted in rounds. In each round, a ballot counts for the highest-ranked candidate still in the race. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and ballots assigned to that candidate move to the next ranked candidate who remains.
That makes the count a sequence, not a single comparison of every voter’s preferences. Imagine four candidates. If C is eliminated first, C’s ballots may boost A enough to change which candidate is eliminated next. If D goes first instead, D’s transfers could change that next contest—and the later path to a winner. The voters’ rankings have not changed; the sequence determines which ballots are active in each round.
A transfer is not always a vote for A or B
A ballot for an eliminated candidate does not automatically go to whichever of A or B its voter likes more. It goes to the voter’s next-ranked candidate who is still in the contest. That candidate might be someone else, and the ballot may transfer again if that candidate is later eliminated.
If a voter has ranked no remaining candidate, the ballot cannot help decide later rounds. This is sometimes called an exhausted ballot. As a result, the final comparison may involve fewer active ballots than the first count.
What the method reveals—and what it can change
The system gives voters a way to rank alternatives rather than choosing only one. But it does not simply identify which of two finalists would win a head-to-head matchup: candidates are removed one at a time, and each removal shapes the next round. A third candidate can therefore affect the contest between A and B not just by attracting first choices, but by determining which preferences enter the count, and when.
