Both majorpolitical parties havenowwrapped up their conventions. In one way,they’re advertisements forwhy Americans should vote foreach party’scandidates, from president all the way down the ticket.
Butthis year, voters infive stateswill see anotherquestionon their ballot:whether to use adifferentmethodtoelecttheirrepresentatives.
The system isknownbroadlyas ranked choice voting. There aredifferentflavorsofit.In some cases,it’scalled “instant runoff voting” or “final five voting.”
In all cases, they describe a way of electing candidates that’s different from what most Americans are used to. As a voter, you get to rank your preferred candidates. So, you don’t just choose one name. You may have a first, second, and third preference for who represents you.
When voting is over, a process of elimination takes place. The lowest vote-getter in the first round is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to higher vote-getters, according to how voters ranked the other candidates. The process continues until you end up with a winner. Ranked choice voting systems are already in place for some races in Alaska, Maine, and cities like Minneapolis and New York City.
What’sdriving reformers to push fortheseranked choice votingsystemsin more states? And how are voters responding?
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