Elections are the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, and the 2026 election cycle is already underway with several closely watched races across the country. In less than two weeks, voters in Washington, D.C., will use a new voting system for the first time: ranked choice voting.

Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than selecting just one. In Washington, voters can rank up to five candidates for a given office. Voters are not required to rank all five choices, but election officials encourage voters to rank candidates in the order they prefer without skipping rankings or selecting the same candidate more than once.