Chicago just got through another election cycle. The February election saw nine, count ‘em, nine candidates for mayor and scores of aldermanic hopefuls.

Then on Tuesday, we did it all over again for those races, including the mayoral contest, after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote on Feb. 28.

What if there were a different way? What if you could rank your choices in order of your preference?

Well, there is a system like that and it’s already being used in some jurisdictions. It’s called ranked choice voting. It has its backers as well as detractors.

But how does it work? WTTW News Explains.