The radical Left has made it clear that they want to change the way American elections work for their benefit.
One thing they would love to see is a shift toward the convoluted method of ranked choice voting.
But this one expert is sounding the alarm about the unintended consequences of ranked choice voting.
Ranked choice voting has already been used in Alaska
Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a system of voting where voters rank candidates in their order of preference as opposed to just picking one candidate. If no candidate receives the plurality of the votes, then they move to a second round where they eliminate the least valued candidate.
If anyone chooses the candidate who received the least number of votes as their preferred candidate, then it moves their vote to their second-choice candidate. They continue the process until they have a candidate who has received at least 51 percent of the votes.
RCV is already being used in elections all the way up to the federal level. One of the most prominent examples was the 2022 election for the U.S. Senate in Alaska. The highly scrutinized election saw incumbent Lisa Murkowski fend off a challenge from political outsider Kelly Tshibaka.
Now one expert is warning that there could be unintended consequences of RCV.
Expert warns that RCV will make elections more “complex” and put a “burden” on voters
Advocates for this style of voting argue that it is better for voters because it gives them more choices. They also say that it helps to keep campaigns focused on policy rather than political attacks because there are more voters for candidates to appeal to.
However, the executive director at the Honest Elections Project, Jason Snead, said it doesn’t improve the election process and actually creates a variety of major issues. One of these issues is the increasing complexity of making choices about your list of candidates.
“You’re making voting more complex by increasing the informational burden in order to be able to participate because now you don’t just have to know about one or two candidates—the major party candidates in the election—now you have to know about four or five candidates,” Snead said.
While Snead is concerned about RCV, some Republicans argue that it is better for primaries.
Some Republicans are advocating for RCV in primary elections
Most Republican politicians haven’t endorsed the idea of RCV for elections, but some are saying that it could help select the best candidate in the primary. Saul Anuzis, the chairman of the Michigan GOP, said he believes “using [RCV] in a primary makes a lot of sense.”
“While some have legitimate concerns about using RCV in general elections, the purpose of primaries is to pick the strongest candidate with the broadest base of support. RCV helps do that,” Anuzis said.
FairVote spokesman Will Mantell pointed to the recent Virginia Republican nominating convention for Governor in 2021. They used RCV to select candidates for the primaries. Mantell said this is why “Youngkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares swept statewide.”
Snead said that regardless of previous outcomes, this change in our election system “requires educated voters,” and this should be considered in future attempts to expand the practice.
Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
