Ranked Choice Voting - Reaching an Agreement
Photo by Tony Webster
The following is a guest post by contributor Connie Clancey. We support the sharing of ideas relevant to humanism here on our blog, but the views expressed in any guest post do not necessarily reflect the views of Humanists of Linn County.
An election should be a very reasonable way to select winners from a panel of candidates. Votes are cast, then counted, and the person with the most votes wins. The voters hear discussions of issues by a variety of competitive candidates during the campaign, and the candidate who wins is agreeable to the most voters. We often say the winner got the majority of votes but that’s not true unless the winner got over 50% of votes; to guarantee a majority winner, a race must have only 2 candidates. In any race where more than 2 candidates are running, the winner may get the most votes (plurality) without getting the majority of votes (over 50%). The goal of choosing a winner agreeable to a majority of voters becomes less likely as the number of candidates increases, but limiting the number of candidates decreases points of view represented during a campaign and decreases the chance that all voter voices will be heard and acknowledged. How can we encourage lively discussion of many different voter concerns and still choose a winner that stands for agreement among a majority of voters?
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) allows the voter to rank a panel of candidates in order of preference and the election results take the ranking into account as follows: Your ballot lists all the candidates for each office. You choose the candidate you most support as 1st choice then mark other candidates as 2nd, 3rd, etc. If you only support one candidate and cannot stand the thought of any others being elected, you can simply vote for that one candidate. When votes are first counted, only the 1st choice of each voter is considered. If any candidate receives over 50% of the vote, the vote counting for that office is complete and a majority winner is declared. If no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, the candidate with the least votes is dropped from the race and the votes are recounted. This time, the 2nd choice ranking is used on the ballots where the dropped candidate was 1st choice. If your 1st choice candidate was not eliminated, your vote will still go to your 1st choice candidate during the 2nd round of vote counting. If after the 2nd round, no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, another candidate is dropped, and the votes recounted as described. This process continues until one candidate receives a true majority of over 50% of the vote and is declared the winner. The voters have essentially reached an agreement concerning the best choice from among many choices. Most people have a “wait…what?” reaction when first hearing how Ranked Choice voting works. Rest assured that casting your ballot is not difficult—instead of marking one candidate for each race, you simply mark 1st , 2nd, 3rd, etc. choices. The calculation of results is done by voting machines with the RCV option and these are becoming more common as RCV is more widely used. In Iowa, it is estimated that 95% of counties are already capable of conducting RCV elections.
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) offers improvements to both election results and election campaigns. It was first proposed in the mid-1800s to select multiple winners from a field of candidates, so was an example of observation and problem solving directed toward settling elections in ways that were fair to everyone. RCV was later used in single winner elections for similar reasons. This effort to see an election problem and offer a solution is consistent with two Humanist commitments--critical thinking and social justice. It appears to be most attractive to voters when they realize that one party maintains political control because of multiple opposition groups splitting the votes. Therefore, political parties that successfully maintain power in spite of a rather narrow voter base tend to oppose and repeal RCV. RCV offers a way to improve the fairness of elections and the accountability of elected officials to the citizens they serve. RCV campaigns are less likely to be negative because candidates have the possibility of gaining votes from supporters of competitors. Voters who feel their preferred candidate has been attacked may rank the negative campaigner very low or may not vote for that person at all. The negative campaign can cost votes. A healthy competition with discussion of many points of view is, therefore, more likely to occur with RCV. In addition, a voter may vote their “heart” and not worry about “wasting a vote” on a candidate that is not expected to win. Support for the 1st choice candidate is documented but if that candidate is dropped out by a low vote total, the 2nd choice candidate is counted in the second round and the voter’s voice is still heard.
Besides improving campaigns and election outcomes, RCV may also save money. In the recent Cedar Rapids mayoral election, three candidates ran for mayor. None received over 50% of the vote as is required for a mayoral victory, so the third place candidate was dropped and a runoff election between the remaining two candidates was held. RCV would have produced a winner in one election, saving money and voter time and effort.
As of March 2022, 55 US cities, counties, and states will use RCV in their next election. Satisfaction with RCV outcomes has prompted nationwide initiatives to educate US voters to make informed choices regarding adoption of RCV in their own cities, towns, or states. Education of Iowans has taken on some urgency in Cedar Rapids since the Charter Review Commission is considering RCV in Cedar Rapids right now. The city charter is reviewed only once every 10 years and the Commission will accept written comments from the public regarding RCV (or any other charter issue) only until April 1,2022. Please consider expressing your point of view by email (CharterReview@cedar-rapids.org) or by visiting the City’s website. Citizens of Cedar Rapids--this is an exciting opportunity for you to help guide your city’s future. If you are interested in further reading, here are some links to information on Ranked Choice Voting: https://www.betterballotiowa.org/faq, https://www.fairvote.org/, and https://www.rcvresources.org/. YouTube videos may also be helpful: https://youtu.be/8Z2fRPRkWvY or https://youtu.be/gq7N2hmX9FI
