Ranked choice voting is the way forward — but this Missouri proposal gets it backward
As a strong advocate of ranked choice voting, or RCV — which enables voters to choose, in order, their top three choices for an office — friends asked what I thought of a recent story in The Kansas City Star about a group trying to bring RCV to Missouri. Wasn’t I excited? My answer, regrettably, was no.
This new petition proposal fails to exploit the full potential of RCV. The proposal only addresses the symptoms of the ills of our election system, not its root causes. Your choices as a voter would continue to be limited. (Familiarize yourself with RCV at FairVote.org.)
The unhappiness we have with the performance and behavior of government and elected officials is a direct result of the antiquated ballot we use, which is inadequate to meet our modern needs.
What’s wrong with our current ballot? That ballot does not guarantee a majority winner in every election. A key phrase in the Declaration of Independence is, “the consent of the governed.” How do candidates have the consent of the governed to either be a party’s nominee or to occupy an elected position when they failed to get a majority (50% plus one) of the votes cast? Answer: They don’t. And this proposal fails this test.
The problem we have with our elections isn’t that we have political parties. The problem is that the ballot we use does not allow sufficient competition both within and among political parties. Sufficient competition would enable existing parties to withstand hostile takeovers and clarify what parties stand for. Sufficient competition would enable new parties to form and be competitive rather than failing to gain traction because of voters’ fear of wasting their vote.
Elections are hiring decisions, and we need a ballot that enables voters to bargain among themselves to determine which candidates are their consensus, majority choices. The ballot we use does not do this. Ranked choice voting, deployed properly, will.
What’s wrong with this new proposal for Missouri? It calls for a “jungle primary” in primary elections. Voters would be able to vote for whichever candidate they want without restrictions due to party affiliation. The top four vote-getters would go on to the general election, which would be conducted with RCV.
The flaw not immediately obvious in this is that you as a voter are limited to only one vote in the primary election. Ask yourself these questions: If Missouri went to the expense and effort to enable RCV for the general election, then why shouldn’t RCV also be used in the primary election? Why instead does the proposal keep the antique ballot for the primary and limit you to one choice?
Consider the race in August 2022 for the U.S. Senate in Missouri. Today’s declared candidates total 19. That would mean under this proposal that the top four vote-getters would likely be nominated, with each getting only 6% to 10% of the vote.
That further means an estimated 60% to 76% of those who vote in the primary would not see their candidate make the final four. The choice voters face in the general election would likely be three members of one party and either one member of another party or an Independent. This would not give voters the robust choices RCV might otherwise provide.
In contrast, if RCV were used in the primary, then the true Top 4 would be determined. An estimated 90% of those who voted would have one of their choices as one of the four.
A caution before ending: Don’t confuse this proposal with BetterBallotKC.org’s petition drive to use RCV in electing Kansas City’s mayor and City Council. That’s a good proposal. Sign it.
Missourians do not have to wait on a petition to have ranked choice voting. The Missouri legislature and governor could enact RCV for the 2022 August primary and beyond. Your calls and emails could help them see the sense in doing so.