In primary after primary this cycle, Democrats and Republicans secured their respective party nominations with far less than majority support. Case in point, earlier this month, nearly 60 percent of Democratic primary voters in Massachusetts’ 3rd congressional district didn’t vote for either of the top-two candidates – almost 80 percent didn’t vote for the ultimate nominee. It doesn’t have to be this way.
All around us we see signs that our great American democratic experiment is struggling. Support for our political leaders in all branches of government has reached historic lows. The venom and vitriol that consumes our political dialogue have reached a boiling point. People are losing faith in our electoral system because it so frequently results in the victory of candidates who have not received anything close to majority support.
Ranked choice voting offers us a path forward that will strengthen our democracy by promoting majority support and consensus building, discouraging negative campaigning, reducing the impact of money on our system, fostering increased participation, and incentivizing innovation by consultants at all levels.
With ranked choice voting, if no candidate emerges with the “first choice” support of a majority of voters, those who come in last place are eliminated, and the ranked choices of voters supporting the eliminated candidate are redistributed amongst the remaining field of candidates. The process repeats until a single candidate wins by crossing the 50 percent threshold. In this system, there are no spoiler candidates. There’s no need to pressure candidates to exit the race for fear they will siphon votes from another contender. A voter’s first choice may not win but, they are far less likely to be left with their last choice.
Strategically, negative campaigning is discouraged in a ranked choice voting system because a candidate who attacks his or her opponents is far less likely to earn the second-choice status of the opponent’s supporters. In other words, it forces candidates to complete for the backing of all voters. In our current system, leaders only have to convince voters they’re better than the other guy – a scenario that breads a “by any means necessary” mentality of mudslinging and negativity. This more than any other thing has damaged our democracy and weakened our system.
Moving to a ranked-choice system would save taxpayers significant money by eliminating the need for run-off elections in states that require a candidate to pass the 50-percent threshold – most voters don’t even participate in these relics of the late 19th century that were designed to maintain white single-party control over the process in the post-slavery South. Far from discouraging participation, ranked choice elections would motivate voters to educate themselves about the background and policy views of more than a single candidate since they would have to consider the ranking of those beyond their first choice.
It’s hard to say what impact ranked choice voting would have on campaign professionals. Every facet of the industry would be forced to rethink their fundamental voter persuasion and mobilization strategies. It would require media consultants, direct mail vendors, digital firms, and just about every other vertical in the industry to innovate. That’s especially true of pollsters, data professionals, and those who specialize in digital voter targeted communications because these industries become even more critical when candidates must find ways to secure support from among all voters.
Maine became the first state to use ranked choice voting in its statewide elections this year. San Francisco elected its mayor utilizing the system in June. In all, this democracy-enhancing change has already been implemented in nearly a dozen major cities across the country with many more on the way. It’s not surprising to see that concern over our flawed electoral system has inspired such an enthusiastic and fast-growing movement for change. It makes perfect sense.
If we want our politics to be better, the way we choose our political leadership needs to be better.
Mark Jablonowski is managing partner and Chief Technology Officer of DSPolitical.