America Can Save Money and Time with Ranked Choice Voting

When states voted in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary (map Josh Putnam)

The American election cycle is too long. Politicians spend far too much time courting donors and campaigning instead of governing. There is no one silver bullet that will fix this, but ranked choice voting, in addition to helping third parties and limiting voter fraud can help here too.

First, a refresher on how ranked choice voting works: Instead of checking one candidate, voters rank their candidates 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on until they have ranked all the candidates running. If one candidate has a majority of votes, they are declared the winner and the election is over. If not, a series of rounds are kicked off. In the first round, the person with the least votes is eliminated. Everyone that ranked this candidate first has their vote given to the highest remaining candidate on their ballot. Originally, this would be their second choice. As the rounds go on and more candidates get eliminated, an individual’s vote could be for their third or fourth choice and so on. The rounds are halted once a candidate receives a majority of votes.

Run-Off Elections

In many states, if no candidate gets over 50 percent of the votes, the top two candidates enter a run-off election. The two senate run-offs in Georgia are the most prominent examples currently. It is an impulse that makes sense. You want to be…