At an event sponsored by Indivisible Chicago, Andrew Silva spoke representing Fair Vote Illinois at Grace Place on October 17, 2023.
He talked about plurality Voting. People complain when a third party splits the vote like the Green Party for the Democrats or the Libertarian Party for the Republicans. Ranked Choice Voting helps to avoid wasted votes because you really want to vote for a particular candidate. But if that candidate finishes last in the field, you still have a second choice that can benefit from your vote. You vote for first, second or third choice. If no candidates in an election reach over 50% of the tally, then the candidate with the least votes is dropped from the running. Benefits include better representation, more civil campaigns. Why? because the candidates will want to attract those voters who will be using their second choice. The candidates will have to take a less extreme stance. New York City and Maine has used Ranked choice as well as some communities as Evanston and Berwyn. Voters are happier with this process and over 85% say voting is easy. Chicago or the state of Illinois would have to put a referendum before the voters before such a decision is made.
https://www.fairvoteillinois.org/rcv