A. "Ranked choice voting" shall mean an election system in which voters rank the candidates for office in order of preference, and the ballots are counted in rounds that, in the case of a single-winner election, simulate a series of runoffs until one candidate receives a majority of votes. Also known as "instant runoff voting."

B. "Continuing ballot" shall mean a ballot that counts towards a continuing candidate.

C. "Continuing candidate" shall mean a candidate that has not been eliminated.

D. "Majority of votes" shall mean more than fifty percent of the votes cast on continuing ballots.

E. "Single winner contest" means an election contest in which there is one seat to be elected for a single office.

F. "Choice" means an indication on a ballot of a voter’s assigned ranking of candidates (i.e. first choice, second choice, third choice, etc.) for any single office according to the voter’s preference.

G. "Vote" means a ballot choice that is counted toward the election of a candidate. During each round of counting, each continuing ballot contains one vote. All first choices are votes and lower ranked choices are potential runoff votes that may, in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, be credited to and become votes for a candidate.

H. "Round of counting" or "round" means a step in the counting process during which votes for all continuing candidates are tabulated for the purpose of determining whether a candidate has achieved a majority of the votes cast for a particular office, and, absent a majority, which candidate or candidates must be eliminated.

I. "Next ranked" means the highest ranked choice for a continuing candidate.

J. "Exhausted ballot" means any ballot that cannot be advanced because no further continuing candidates are ranked on that ballot.

K. "Overvote" means any ballot with more than one candidate indicated for the same ranking.

L. "Undervote" means any ballot that has no candidates indicated at any ranking.

M. "Skipped ranking" means a ballot contains a higher ranking with no candidate indicated, and contains a lower ranking with a candidate indicated.

N. "Voting equipment" means all ballots and/or voting devices, vote tabulating systems and/or similar or related systems to be used in the conduct of the City’s election, including but not limited to paper ballot systems, optical scan systems, and direct recording electronic systems. (Ord. 7038-NS § 1, 2008)