Which one of the eight hopefuls will emerge victorious in the city of Santa Fe's mayoral election appears to be anyone's guess.

If past behavior of Santa Fe voters is a reliable indicator, one result is certain: Ranked choice voting will help play a deciding role in who wins Nov. 4.

More than seven years after the city rolled out the voting system — in which voters can rank candidates in any race on their ballot with more than two contenders — tallies show an overwhelming majority of Santa Fe voters have taken advantage of this "instant runoff" method, ranking multiple candidates in contested elections in past municipal elections.

When it was first introduced in March 2018, data shows, more than 96% of voters ranked at least four out of the five candidates in the mayoral race, when Mayo

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