Ranked Choice Voting Is Worth Trying

On this day before the Fourth of July where we celebrate the Independence we declared from England to setup our Democracy voting seems like an appropriate discussion.

Voting is a fundamental right and responsibility in a democracy but we struggle to get participation in voting of even half the population in any election. Local elections generally see even less participation.

It is not surprising then we look at ways to help ensure more participation. We've ensured we have enough local precincts, we've made registration easier and lately we've moved to vote by mail.

There is little excuse not to vote but we still struggle. Ranked choice voting is another incremental change to encourage everyone to vote and also to ensure the final outcome really expresses the majority's opinion.

Today's two party system and a spoiler, or even a non-partisan election where you have the right mix of candidates you can end up electing someone with less than 50% of the vote. So at times one must vote strategically instead of based on what they really want to ensure the spoiler does not end up electing someone the majority did not want. The 2017 Provo Mayor's race shows an example of how the spoiler effect plays out: http://utahrcv.com/why-ranked-choice-voting/fair/case-study-2017-provo-primary-mayoral-election/.

My analysis of ranked choice voting seems to show it can get rid of the spoiler effect. Ranked choice voting ensures my vote goes to whomever is left all the way down to a final round and truly ending up with someone over 50% of the populous would be OK with. In addition this eliminates any runoffs costing us taxpayers to pay for another election, so win win!

In the end if elected to Lehi City Council I would move to have another look at ranked choice voting to see if it makes sense for our elections.

Happy Fourth of July!

See more at: http://utahrcv.com/

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