Ranked Choice Voting

Originally Posted 1/06/25

Why are we talking about voting?

Well, I wanted to put together this post after this past election. I believe this country needs change, and I think one thing that needs to change first is how we vote. I think the current two party system does not accurately represent what the vast majority of American's want, and so I wanted to talk about another way to vote. I also wanted to make this blog post because I've heard people say that Ranked Choice Voting is too confusing to implement, and I don't really think it is.

Preface

Before going further I just wanted to mention a few things. First, YouTuber CGP Grey has a number of videos on voting he made over 10 years ago. The first of these videos can be viewed here. I found them really informative and helpful when learning about different ways to do voting. Secondly, there are already some states, and some parts of states, that do Ranked Choice Voting. Thirdly, for the examples I'll be using below, I'll be assuming there is a race with four candidates: a Progressive, a Liberal, a Republican, and a Libertarian. Obviously individual races may have more or less candidates. Lastly, this is my understanding on how Ranked Choice Voting works. If I am wrong in some way, please let me know.

What is our current voting system?

Our current voting system here in the US is considered a "First Past the Post" voting system. The first candidate to get over 50% of the vote (usually) wins. The problem that arises from this is the two party system. Let me explain:

Say I am a Libertarian. An election comes up and I relate to and agree with the Libertarian candidate's view's the most. I could vote for them, however (here in the US) I know that they're unlikely to win. The typical winners are either the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate. Out of those two, let's say I agree with the Republican candidate more, and dislike the Democratic candidate. If I vote for the Libertarian cadidate, that's one less vote for the Republican candidate, and that means the Democrats might win by 1 vote. Because I much rather the Republican, I'm going to vote Republican to make sure the Democrat can not win.

This sort of mindset I think often leaves people feeling like they're simply choosing between the lesser of two evils in an election. It also means that, while in this case I don't fully agree with the Republican view, that's the view that's going to be pushed if they win. If you try to look at voting trends, to see what matters to voters, you're simply going to see that more people voted Republican, and so must agree with the Republican ideals. But this isn't true (I don't think at least), as I think there's a wide range of people who vote Democrat or Repubulican that don't fully agree with those candidates, but it's just the closest thing to what they want.

What is Ranked Choice Voting?

In Ranked Choice Voting, you essentially vote multiple times. When you get your ballot, you number the candidates in order of your preference. So, in the example above, I'd rank the Libertarian candidate as my first choice, the Republican as my second choice, and either stop there or continue down the ballot according to whatever my preferences are. When it comes time to count the votes, you tally up and see everyone's preference based on their first candidate choice. If any candidate gets above 50% (or whatever the number is determined to be), the election stops there. However, if no candidate gets above 50% after the first round, the lowest ranking candidate gets dropped. Everyone who voted for that candidate then has their votes distributed to their second choice. This continues until there is a candidate that is above the 50% threshhold (or whatever percentage is chosen).

So, in the example above. Say my preference is Libertarian, Republican, and then I don't care who wins after that. After the first round, say no one is a winner but the Libertarian candidate had the lowest numbers. My vote then goes to helping the Republican candidate. The votes are tallied again and if there's a winner the vote is over, and the winner is decided. If there is no winner, and the Republican candidate is the lowest, the Republican candidate gets dropped and my vote would stop counting as I had no third preference. But anyone who did have a preference after Republican would have their vote go to the next candidate, and so on until there's a winner.

This gives a fairer representation of what the people actually want. Even if we still end up with Democrats and Republicans winning most of the time, we'd then have more accurate data on what policies or political platforms people agree with. Say, for example, 20% of voters voted for the Libertarian candidate. Even though the Libertarian candidate did not win, the fact they received 20% of the vote is noticable, and may have the other parties start considering some of the Libertarian platform as things they should adopt, or be more flexible on. Who knows, maybe we'd finally not just have Democrats or Republicans in charge.

Wrap Up

I think Ranked Choice Voting is something that should be implemented across the entirety of the US. I think it would help people feel like their votes actually mattered, and I think it would give us better data on what people really care about, and which political ideologies they most agree with. This sort of data could also help change other areas of government. For example, say we know 20% of people voted Libertarian, 20% Progressive, 35% Liberal, and 25% Republican. Why not have our House of Representatives match that ratio? That way lawmakers more accurately represent what the people actually want.

That though, is a bit of a further dream after Ranked Choice Voting. Like I said before, I think this country needs a lot of change and I think the best way to do that is to start with making elections more fair and representative, so that we can actually get a feel for what people want.