Every election, I hear the same arguments against voting for third parties. They mostly center around the idea that if you don’t vote Democrat or Republican, you are throwing your vote away or hurting someone else’s chances of getting elected.
The truth is that in our two party system, it is very difficult to feel like you are being represented. How can the huge diversity of views and voices all be filtered into only two possible choices, choices that almost every year are accused of being a decision between “the lesser of two evils."
Ranked-Choice Voting helps to address this issue. It is a non-partisan approach to helping create better democracy. It doesn’t matter where you are on the political spectrum, Ranked-Choice Voting will allow you to rank the candidates rather than just picking one.
Here’s how it works:
Ranked-Choice Voting, also known as instant run-off voting, the alternative vote (AV), transferable vote, or preferential voting, is used in single-seat elections with more than two candidates. Instead of voting for a single candidate, voters can rank the candidates in order of preference. Ballots are initially counted for each elector's top choice. If a candidate secures more than half of these votes, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate in last place is eliminated and completely removed from consideration. That candidate is removed from all ballots and if he or she were a top choice on a ballot, the next highest choice moves up. The top remaining choices on all the ballots are then counted again. The process repeats until one candidate is the top remaining choice of a majority of the voters. When the field is reduced to two, it has become an "instant runoff" that allows a comparison of the top two candidates head-to-head. (Courtesy of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting)
Many countries already use Ranked-Choice Voting in their national elections, including Australia, India, and Ireland. It has been adopted in many local elections right here in the United States (http://www.betterballotbenton.com/).
I urge everyone to take a look at Ranked-Choice Voting. It’s a great way to make America more democratic. If it ever comes up in your location, throw your support behind it. Having more viable choices is always a good thing. If it’s good enough for the Irish, I think we can make it work here, right?
