by Sravya Tadepalli This story was originally published at Prism. On Tuesday, a record number of voters cast their ballots using ranked-choice voting, a system that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. For the first time, ranked-choice voting determined elections in 31 municipalities, up from only seven last year. The kinds of communities that have adopted ranked-choice voting are wide-ranging, including large, diverse cities like San Francisco; small, predominantly white communities like Basalt, Colorado; and several towns in Utah. Through ballot initiatives, residents in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Westbrook, Maine; and Broomfield, Colorado, voted on Tuesday to adopt the ranked-choice voting system in future elections. “We are really excited about the outcome in Broomfield,” said Emma Donahue, political director for RCV Colorado and campaign manager for Better Ballot Broomfield. “Ranked-choice voting stops vote splitting, allows communities to have a bigger say in their elections, and people feel they don’t just have to pick the candidate who has the most money, but the candidate that has their values.” Read more