Ranked Choice Voting is More Democratic
Proportional representation must begin at the grassroots
Ranked choice voting, also known as Single Transferable Vote (STV) is designed to eliminate strategic voting and helps ensure voters vote based on preference instead of how others are voting. During the election voters decide not only on who they think is best but also in case they don’t win or there’s an overwhelming majority they label their second, third, fourth, etc. surplus and deficit votes are recounted added to the next choice.
Right now STV exists sparsely across the US in local elections, there is a push for having it in federal elections to give congress a stronger center. The movement needs to stop focusing on federal changes instead work at the local level. Federal changes are almost impossible because parties in power do not want to split their votes and swing states benefit from being the center of attention every four years. Still Alaska and Maine succefully implemented a single-winner ranked choice system, though they are the exception not the rule. Maine had a history of the spoiler effect that came to a head when the governor LePage won with only 37.6 percent of the vote. Alaska has a history of being politically independent and their disconnect from the rest of the US led them to seeking a system that allowed politics to reflect their unique situation.
The best way to implement ranked choice voting is in small purple districts that way neither party is incentivized to keep the current system. As the practice of SVT spreads it will have a genuine chance to demonstrate its usefulness to the public, if voters are satisfied the idea will spread if they are not advocates for SVT need to get back to the drawing board. The US can learn from Ireland and Australia’s experience to understand the best way to implement it for ourselves.
Ireland is one of the few countries that uses an STV it was adopted before its independence. It was not caused by a mixed government instead an extremely dominant one that benefitted from the first past the vote system. The Sinn Fein party won in a landslide. The UK government did not want to lose Ireland to this powerful new administration so they pushed for SVT in local elections hoping it would curb Sinn Feins influence. Instead, Sinn Fein embraced SVT as part of their commitment to empower Irish citizens. Following their independence Ireland enshrined SVT into their constitution because it had become so engrained in Irish politics.
Australia’s journey towards ranked choice voting began as a way ensure smaller states power and women’s suffrage. Much like Ireland Australia was able to implement it at the start of their country. This has made STV a central part of Australian political identity. Since then Australia has maintained a strong center despite growing extremism in other countries. This has in large part been because of their ranked choice voting system. Monique Ryan ran for office after becoming disenfranchised with the liberal parties failure to combat climate change. In 2022 she defeated the incumbent 53%-47% as an independent. Independents are laughed at and quickly disregarded in US politics which gives the government a weak center and a weak congress.
Both of these countries had the fortune to implement these policies early in their history but despite structural difficulties in implementing such policies in the United States there is still hope for a more representational voting system. The sooner the better though, the longer the two parties wait the farther they grow apart, and the farther they grow apart the more difficult it will be to implement such policies.