Now there's a ballot I'd like to see

The San Francisco Department of Elections is still trying to explain "ranked-choice voting" to the citizenry. I loathe this electoral gimmick; fuller explanation here. They came up with this amusing sample ballot to try to explain the process.

The only plausible defense of the system is that it makes elections cheaper than requiring a run-off vote if no candidate gets over 50 percent. I imagine however that it loses a good deal of its economic benefit, if -- as in this case -- voters like me who face only one non-competitive race under the system, have to be mailed a trilingual, two-sided, glossy flyer of explanation.