Why I Like Ranked Choice Voting – Coming to Colorado?
No one I speak with seems to think that the increasing chasm between the left and the right is healthy for governing our communities or our country. The chasm won’t close if we continue on our current course. Why?
- Media outlets make money delivering what I’m calling “angertainment.” You know what I mean by that. It’s profitable so they won’t stop, and (sigh) human nature shows that neither will viewership.
- “Moderate” voters, almost by definition, don’t get fired up – while sadly, supporters of fringe candidates do. That’s why we don’t see frenzied rallies for moderate candidates. Really, who stands in a long line at an ice-cream shop to order vanilla?
There is an issue that moderate voters can get excited about because it’s easy and smart: RANKED CHOICE VOTING.
Let’s say there are 5 candidates for an office. Without ranked choice voting, an extreme right or left candidate can get elected with less than 50% of the vote. That’s what’s happening now – especially in primaries where many candidates are running and one extreme candidate wins with, say, 35% over two more moderate candidates, one with, say, 20% and one with 31% for a total of 51% for moderate candidates who split that vote. While the majority wanted moderate, they got the minority’s fringe.
Let’s play that again with RANKED CHOICE VOTING. No one got the majority so now we go to ranked votes, dropping the lowest vote getter and retabulating until there’s a candidate with a majority. As rankings kick in, the lowest vote getter is removed and the second choice of those who voted for the dropped candidate are counted. Depending on how voters choose, it’s possible that a moderate candidate wins, defeating the fringe candidate. If a jurisdiction has all fringe candidates, well then, that’s who will win. But in the scenario above, we’d likely end with something closer to a consensus candidate – one more palatable to more of the electorate.
Why am I writing to ProCO360 listeners about this? Because Colorado business leaders I know want a business climate that’s calm and predictable so they can invest and grow in Colorado.
The Secretary of State is in the process of certifying the petition signatures and it looks like enabling ranked choice voting will be on the Colorado November ballot.
Moderates, this is something we can get fired up about!
