Advocates for ranked choice voting from both parties say their pitch should be a no-brainer: It fosters intraparty unity and roots out extreme candidates as polarization thrives even within Democrats and Republicans themselves. But it’s far from that simple.
A ballot-casting system that’s gained traction at the state level, ranked choice allows voters to pick multiple candidates in order of preference rather than just one. The candidate must receive a majority of first-choice votes to win, otherwise the votes are reallocated in runoff rounds to eliminate competitors until one secures a majority.
Several states and Washington, D.C., are looking to ditch their traditional system for ranked choice, with some facing opposition from political parties on both sides of the aisle. In Congress, several Democrats are reupping a perennial push to make the switch for all federal primary and general elections.
However, the endeavor on Capitol Hill for a nationwide voting system critics say is too complex has struggled to get off the ground with bipartisan support even as more states look to adopt it. Conservatives and other opponents fear it would sow chaos and voter fraud, unfairly benefit Democrats, and produce lawmakers who don’t accurately represent their states.
“There are so few competitive districts, and for most seats, the election is the primary, and because it’s the primary, we tend to elect the most liberal Democrat and most conservative Republican,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), a leading ranked choice proponent, told the Washington Examiner.
Where ranked choice voting is on the ballot in 2024
Six states and Washington, D.C., will have ranked choice voting ballot initiatives in November, with some facing pushback from the major political state parties over a system they see as flawed and overly complicated.
Colorado, Washington, D.C., Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon are looking to implement ranked choice voting for congressional elections, gubernatorial races, and other statewide offices. If approved in Idaho, ranked choice would also be used in the presidential race.
Alaska has a ballot measure to appeal its current ranked choice voting. Missouri’s measure would ban ranked choice voting preemptively, joining the likes of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Kentucky that have also outlawed the practice from ever being enacted.
Alaska and Maine are the only states to use the method in federal elections. It’s utilized more widely in state and local races across the country in at least 17 states, according to the Ranked Choice Voting Resource Center. From school boards and city councils to governors and other state officials, the system has been used in areas of the U.S. since the mid-1800s.
Both parties present hurdles to ranked choice voting
Ranked choice voting, adopted by Alaska in 2022, was credited that same year for electing centrist Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) to the conservative state’s lone House seat for the first time in 50 years.
Conservatives have argued that vote-splitting helped aid a Peltola victory, who received just 10% of the vote to former Gov. Sarah Palin’s 27% in round 1. Peltola emerged as the winner after round 2 with 51.5% to Palin’s 48.5%.
That same year, fellow centrist Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) kept his battleground seat after prevailing in a ranked choice runoff.
Two Democrats winning with ranked choice voting in competitive seats doesn’t bode well for convincing Republicans, Beyer conceded.
“I’m eager to have some Republicans win that way, too, so you don’t have places like Idaho thinking, ‘Oh, this favors Democrats,’ because it doesn’t,” Beyer said. “It favors the choices of the people, who will often be Republicans.”
Pro-ranked choice voting organizations like FairVote note that the system has produced Republican victories in Alaska’s state House races.
It’s also utilized in the Republican stronghold of Utah for nonpartisan municipal elections, although there have been efforts to end the Beehive State’s ranked voting pilot program. And in Virginia, ranked choice paved the way in the state GOP’s 2021 primary for Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), a close ally to former President Donald Trump.
Still, the bipartisan resistance is palpable.
Youngkin vetoed ranked choice legislation earlier this year because it could have expanded a system he said many voters already found too confusing. Proponents countered it would have also offered clarity.
“Concerns have been raised about its use in general elections where some voters have found it confusing,” Youngkin said in his veto. “A heightened risk of mistakenly erroneous ballot submissions raises concerns about disenfranchisement and an increased lack of voter confidence in election results.”
Former GOP Virginia Del. Chris Saxman is in favor of ranked choice voting — to an extent. He supports parties selecting their candidates in the primaries but is “not there yet” when it comes to general elections.
“There’s so much distrust in our system as it is, and I think to do something like this would further erode the trust factor that we need to build,” Saxman said. “A top-down approach is probably not the best way to do it. I’d rather see it come from the grassroots of both parties to support it.”
In Colorado, the opposition against its ballot measure among Democrats, Republicans, and the Green Party has offered a rare unifying coalition.
The Democratic Party states their positions on various ballot measures reflect “our values, from ensuring that the ultra-wealthy don’t undermine our democracy.” The statement was viewed as a hit at Kent Thiry, the former CEO of Denver-based DaVita Dialysis corporation and financial backer advocating for the ranked choice voting initiative known as Proposition 131.
“In a state where nearly half of voters are independent, the current party-primary system limits voter choices and gives too much power to political insiders and special interests,” Thiry, who serves as chairman of the “Yes on 131” campaign, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Prop 131 puts voters in charge, as any voter will have the right to vote for any candidate in every taxpayer-funded election; and candidates will need support from a majority of voters to be elected.”
Colorado Voters First has raised $8.4 million in support of the measure and has spent $6.15 million, per the Colorado Sun. Thiry was attributed for $1.4 million. He’s also provided $4.7 million to Unite America, a Denver-based election reform organization.
Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) endorsed Proposition 131 on Thursday, arguing that Colorado has the best voter integrity and access protections with the caveat that “no system of voting is perfect.”
“I think instant runoff voting is better than our current system because it gives voters more choices,” the governor wrote in a Facebook post. “I’m hopeful that if it passes it will encourage participation and improve our democracy.”
WHO HAS AND HASN’T ENDORSED HARRIS AND TRUMP THIS ELECTION CYCLE
In Alaska, Nick Begich, the Republican nominee against Peltola, is supporting the state’s ballot measure to repeal ranked choice voting.
“I think we need to make sure that our election systems can’t be gamed, and that they also provide an opportunity to contrast the policies of one side of the aisle with the other,” Begich told the Washington Examiner. “Ranked choice voting, the way it’s been implemented in Alaska, is really more of a delayed primary.”
And in deep blue Maryland, ranked choice voting legislation this year led by Democrats failed to garner any steam and died in committee despite the Democratic-controlled legislature.
Ranked choice voting lands with a thud in Congress
Proponents in Congress have seen far less success than their state and local counterparts.
Lawmakers have repeatedly reintroduced their ranked choice voting proposals, only for them to die each Congress in a legislative graveyard among thousands of other bills that don’t receive floor votes or serious consideration from party leaders.
Beyer, along with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), has legislation he’s been pushing for a decade to require ranked choice voting in all congressional primary and general elections. His current proposal would take effect in the 2028 elections. Arlington County, which includes Beyer’s district, implemented the system for the first time last year for its County Board seats.
Welch made the case that adopting their proposal would assuage frequent gripes from voters that none of the available candidates in general elections up and down the ballot represent their values.
“I hear a lot of frustration that people don’t think the choices they get fully reflect their hopes and aspirations,” Welch told the Washington Examiner. “This gives them a backup, and I think it creates some potential to get people elected who have a priority on legislating as opposed to just raising hell.”
Other members of the Democratic caucus, including Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Angus King (I-ME) and Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Dean Phillips (D-MN), have also promoted other ranked choice voting bills.
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FairVote, which backs the Raskin-Beyer-Welch bill and has extended support to state ballot measures, argues that traditional voting systems often yield primary candidates not representative of the respective parties because of nominees who win a fraction of voters in a crowded field.
“It allows voters to feel free to support their favorite candidates, and it incentivizes candidates to reach out to more voters than they otherwise would have to win that sort of second and third broad choice support,” said Rachel Hutchinson, FairVote senior policy analyst.
