Election administrators need voting systems that are accurate, secure, auditable, and understandable to the public.

Top Three Elections build on familiar election practices while using a straightforward method to identify the candidate with the broadest support among the finalists. The system is designed to be practical to implement, easy to explain, and transparent at every stage.

How Top Three Works

1. All-voter primary election: All voters may participate, regardless of party affiliation. The three candidates receiving the most votes advance.

2. Head-to-head choices: In the general election, voters weigh in on each one-on-one matchup among the three finalists.

3. Transparent result: Each matchup is counted separately. The candidate who defeats both other finalists head-to-head wins.

Designed with Election Administration in Mind

Practical to Implement

Top Three continues to use paper ballots, certified voting equipment, established canvassing procedures, post-election audits, and existing certification processes. Implementation would require ballot-programming updates and voter education—not an entirely new election infrastructure.

Easy to Audit

Each head-to-head matchup produces its own publicly reportable vote total. If a recount is needed, officials recount the same voter markings that determined the original result.

There are no elimination rounds, transferred votes, or reconstructed counting stages.

Easy to Explain

Voters make familiar choices between two candidates at a time. Election officials can clearly explain how each ballot is counted and how the winner is determined.

A process that voters can follow is also easier for journalists, candidates, and observers to verify—and easier for officials to defend against misinformation.

Built for Public Trust

Election results should not only be accurate; they should also be understandable.

Top Three allows officials to report every head-to-head result publicly. Nothing happens “behind the curtain.” Voters can see which candidate won each comparison and independently verify the final outcome.

A More Inclusive Qualifying Election

Top Three allows voters to support their preferred candidate regardless of party affiliation. Under the proposed Ohio legislation, races continuing under the existing partisan-primary system would remain on the appropriate party ballot, while Top Three qualifying contests would appear in a separate section.

This approach builds on procedures Ohio voters and election officials already understand while giving more voters a voice in choosing who advances.

Download the Election Administration Guide to Top Three Elections.