01
One open primary
All qualified candidates appear together, regardless of party. Any voter may choose up to five candidates they support for each office.
EVERYONE CAN PARTICIPATE ↗
A proposal for more representative elections
More choice.
More choice.
A better way
forward.
One primary open to every candidate and every voter. Five finalists. A general election where your backup choices count.
A civic proposal for local, state, and national elections
MORE VOICES INONE SHARED BALLOT
ABCDEFGHI
OPEN PRIMARY
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FIVE ADVANCERANKED GENERAL ↗
Your vote
has room
to breathe.
has room
to breathe.
THE IDEA IN ONE LINEOpen the field. Keep the best five. Let voters rank the rest.↓
2026 / ON THE BALLOTMidterm
Midterm
Voter Guide.
Ballot measures involving all-party primaries, ranked voting, and related nonpartisan election rules. See what each choice would do and read the official sources.
Election: November 3, 2026
Research verified October 6, 2026
Eight provisions in seven jurisdictions. These measures adopt different rules; none is an exact match for this site’s Top5 proposal. Alaska asks whether to repeal an existing system. Georgia and Montana concern judicial elections.
Top5 Voting recommendations Green YES and red NO mark the choice we recommend for open participation, ranked choices, or related nonpartisan reforms. Expand each measure to see why.
Honolulu, HawaiiCharter Question 5YESFive finalists and ranked voting, starting no earlier than 2032.
- Yes
- Adopts ranked voting and a five-finalist election for larger fields.
- No
- Keeps the current city election rules.
Why Top5 Voting recommends YES: Introduces five finalists for larger fields and ranked voting, advancing our goals of more choice and backup preferences. Its ranked primary differs from our approval primary.
What to know: The first eligible even-numbered election year follows both December 31, 2031 and state legislation authorizing county ranked voting. Its primary uses ranked elimination, unlike Top5 Voting’s approval primary. With two to five candidates, the ranked election goes straight to November.
MassachusettsQuestion 3YESOne all-party primary, with two finalists advancing to the general election.
- Yes
- Replaces separate party primaries with one primary; two finalists advance.
- No
- Keeps the current primary-election rules.
Why Top5 Voting recommends YES: Opens one primary to every candidate and voter, a step toward our shared-primary principle. It advances only two finalists and does not add ranked voting.
What to know: Two finalists, rather than five, advance. It does not add ranked-choice voting; both finalists can belong to the same party.
AlaskaBallot Measure 2NOA decision on repealing the current top-four primary and ranked general election.
- Yes
- Repeals the current primary and ranked general-election system, restores party primaries and plurality general elections, and repeals campaign-finance provisions.
- No
- Retains the existing all-party primary and ranked-choice general-election system, along with the provisions this initiative would repeal.
Why Top5 Voting recommends NO: Preserves the all-party primary and ranked general election, two core parts of our approach. This recommendation concerns the election system; the measure also bundles campaign-finance changes.
What to know: This 2026 initiative (24ESEG) is distinct from the repeal question also called Measure 2 that failed in 2024. It bundles election-method changes with campaign-finance changes.
Irvine, CaliforniaMeasure DYESRanked voting for mayor and council, subject to feasibility from 2028.
- Yes
- Directs ranked voting for mayor and council, subject to feasibility.
- No
- Keeps the current municipal voting method.
Why Top5 Voting recommends YES: Adds ranked choices so voters can express backup preferences, one part of our proposed system. It does not create a five-finalist primary.
What to know: The first use depends on suitable equipment and estimated additional costs no greater than 0.23% of the city general fund budget. Allowing five rankings does not create a five-finalist primary.
Longmont, ColoradoQuestion 3CYESRanked voting for mayor and council, where possible from November 2029.
- Yes
- Provides for ranked methods for mayor and council beginning November 2029, where possible.
- No
- Keeps the current voting method; the 3D realignment would not take effect.
Why Top5 Voting recommends YES: Adds ranked methods for mayor and council, advancing our principle that backup preferences should count. It does not create a five-finalist primary.
What to know: Requires state-certified equipment and effective state rules. With 3D, the at-large contest could use proportional ranked voting; it does not establish a five-finalist primary.
Longmont, ColoradoQuestion 3DYESA companion to 3C that aligns council terms for multi-seat ranked voting.
- Yes
- Aligns council election cycles, contingent on 3C passing.
- No
- Keeps the current council election cycles, even if 3C passes.
Why Top5 Voting recommends YES: Supports the implementation of multi-seat ranked voting alongside 3C. This is a related reform for broader representation, rather than our single-winner Top5 model, and depends on 3C passing.
What to know: Only takes effect if 3C also passes. It shortens two transition terms and groups the three at-large seats in one cycle and the ward seats in another. Proportional multi-seat voting differs from a single-winner ranked election.
GeorgiaAmendment 2 (HR 251)YESRelated reform: nonpartisan elections for all probate judges.
- Yes
- Requires all probate judges to be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
- No
- Leaves the current constitutional provisions for judicial elections unchanged.
Why Top5 Voting recommends YES: Extends nonpartisan elections to probate judges, consistent with our support for elections outside party nomination systems. This is a related reform, without ranked voting or a five-finalist primary.
What to know: Changes the partisan status of probate-judge elections, without adding ranked voting or a five-finalist primary.
MontanaCI-132YESRelated reform: constitutional protection for nonpartisan judicial elections.
- Yes
- Adds a constitutional requirement that judicial elections remain nonpartisan.
- No
- Leaves existing statutory nonpartisan judicial elections in place without adding this constitutional requirement.
Why Top5 Voting recommends YES: Protects existing nonpartisan judicial elections, consistent with our support for elections outside party nomination systems. This preserves a related reform; it does not add ranked voting or a five-finalist primary.
What to know: Protects an existing nonpartisan system rather than adopting a new voting method. It adds neither ranked voting nor a five-finalist primary.
Supporters of ranked voting emphasize backup preferences and fewer vote-splitting concerns. Critics emphasize counting complexity, implementation costs, and ballots that stop counting when all ranked choices are eliminated. A majority of continuing ballots can differ from a majority of all ballots originally cast.
This is a verified research snapshot, not a complete census of every local ballot. The marked choices are Top5 Voting’s recommendations; the linked official sources explain the measures and do not imply an endorsement. Check your election office’s sample ballot for the questions where you live.
01 / THE SYSTEMSimple rules.
Simple rules.
More room for us.
Top5 Voting is a proposed two-stage election. It gives every qualified candidate a path onto one primary ballot, then lets voters express both support and preference.
02
Up to five advance
The five candidates with the most approval votes move on. With one candidate, or if exactly one earns approval from more than half of primary voters, that candidate is elected immediately.
MORE CHOICE IN NOVEMBER ↗
03
Rank the finalists
If there is a general election, voters rank the finalists. The last-place candidate is eliminated each round, and those ballots transfer to their next active choice.
A WINNER WITH BROADER SUPPORT ↗
Getting on the ballot
Read the full proposal Local law sets eligibility. Our recommended starting point is signatures from 1% of the state's registered voters as of January 1 of the election year.
02 / TRY IT YOURSELFSee how your
See how your
voice moves.
These small examples show the mechanics. The candidates and votes are fictional.
THE PRIMARY
Pick the people you could live with.
Choose up to five. Each check is one approval. Your ballot joins 10 fictional ballots already cast.
0of 5 choices used
Sample ballotVOTE FOR UP TO 5
Choose the candidates you support.
Live count10 VOTERS IN THIS DEMO
03 / WHY CHANGE?Politics can be
Politics can be
a shared project.
The goal is a government that reflects more of us, and a political culture that rewards solving problems together.
“
What if candidates had to earn support beyond one political tribe?
THE QUESTION BEHIND TOP5 VOTINGMake space for independents
One all-candidate ballot removes the party nomination as the only practical route to the general election. Candidates can build coalitions around ideas.
Reward broader appeal
In a ranked general election, candidates benefit when voters are willing to put them second or third, even across disagreements.
Represent more views
Five finalists can bring more perspectives into the final conversation than a two-candidate contest.
45%
of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025.
That is party identification in a Gallup survey, not voter registration.
Source: Gallup, Jan. 2026 ↗04 / THE LANDSCAPEWhere we are.
Where we are.
Where we could go.
Our goal is adoption in every eligible local and state election. This first tracker separates the exact proposal from related reforms, and keeps state law distinct from municipal examples.
0verified exact Top5 systems
6states with a related statewide element
50states in this baseline scan
STATEWIDE BASELINE
Explore the states
“Related” means a statewide all-candidate primary or ranked-choice voting for at least some major offices. Local rules are shown separately below.
LOCAL EXAMPLES
Pieces of the idea are already in use.
These examples are a starting set, not a complete census of every municipality. None is labeled an exact Top5 match.
Baseline reviewed September 2026. Rules vary by office and may change. Source set: NCSL primary systems, FairVote RCV jurisdictions, and Alaska Division of Elections.
05 / THE PROPOSAL
The rules, in focus.
LOCAL + STATE
A clean, common structure
- Locally established qualifications give candidates a route to the ballot. We suggest a signature threshold equal to 1% of registered voters on January 1 of the election year.
- In the all-candidate primary, voters approve up to five candidates per office.
- If just one candidate runs, or exactly one receives approvals from more than 50% of voters who cast a valid ballot in that race, that candidate is elected.
- Otherwise, up to five candidates with the highest approval totals advance. In the general, voters rank their choices; instant runoff determines the winner.
For drafting: Approval voting can produce more than one candidate above 50%. A tie for the last finalist, general-election ties, and exhausted rankings also need explicit rules.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
One added national rule
Our proposal would apply eliminations nationally: in each round, remove the candidate with the fewest current top-choice votes nationwide from every state’s rankings, then recalculate each state’s winner and electoral votes. Continue until a candidate has the electoral majority (currently 270 of 538).
If no candidate reaches the required majority, the Constitution’s contingent-election process applies. A full legal and administrative design must address state elector laws, district allocation in Maine and Nebraska, ties, exhausted ballots, timing, and certification.
National Archives: Electoral College FAQ ↗06 / TAKE ACTIONMake it a
Make it a
local conversation.
Change usually begins with a small group asking how elections could work better. Start with the rules where you live, then build a coalition around a clear proposal.
These organizations work on related reforms. Their inclusion does not imply endorsement of this specific proposal.
YOUR STARTING POINTExplore ballot access rules ↗
Pick a state to see its baseline status and a practical first step.
Three first moves
- Confirm the election authority and route for your specific office.
- Invite people across political lines to review the idea.
- Ask an election-law expert to turn the proposal into local language.