This suggests that candidates who appeal to a broader swath of voters should do better under RCV than under the plurality or run-off systems. Likewise, a candidate who a majority of the voters do not support, facing two opponents with similar strengths who split the vote- for example, a more liberal candidate facing two conservatives, or vice versa-could win in a plurality system. Under the plurality system, a candidate with a very committed base of supporters could win even if a majority of the voters dislike that candidate. HLT: Would ranked-choice voting incentivize candidates to appeal to a broader swath of voters from the outset of their campaigns?īrann: There is not a lot of data yet to test that hypothesis, but so far in Maine (2018 and the primary elections so far in 2020), the candidates with the broadest coalitions have won their races. RCV is a referendum question this year in statewide elections in Massachusetts and Alaska. In other states, such as California, Massachusetts (Cambridge), Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Vermont, RCV is used or has been used for municipal or judicial elections.
HLT: What jurisdictions already do it and how has it worked for them?īrann: Maine is the most prominent, using it for all federal offices and for state offices in the primary election. This process continues until a candidate gets over 50% and is declared the winner. In races in which there are more than two candidates, if no candidate gets over 50% of the first-choice ballots, the lowest-ranked candidate is dropped, and the second choices of his or her voters are counted and added to the higher-ranked candidates. Voters can also do what they always have done, for example, just vote for their preferred candidate. Peter Brann: Ranked-choice voting (RCV), also called instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank their preferences in order-one, two, three, etc. Harvard Law Today: What is ranked-choice voting? Harvard Law Today recently asked Brann via email to explain ranked-choice voting, what he believes are its advantages, and what opponents say about it. He also wrote a chapter on ranked-choice voting for a book published by the American Bar Association in 2019, “ America Votes!” Brann previously served as an assistant attorney general and state solicitor for the state of Maine. Brann was counsel to now-Maine Congressman Jared Golden in the constitutional challenge to the first use of ranked-choice voting in federal elections in the country in 2018. 3, voters in Massachusetts and Alaska will have the opportunity to adopt ranked-choice voting statewide.īrann is a visiting lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School, where he co-teaches a class on the Role of State Attorneys General. Peter Brann argues that Maine has led the nation in adopting a new voting system-ranked-choice voting (RCV)-that better ensures that the most popular candidate in any election wins.
0 kommentar(er)
