Miles Boyko, Special to The Denisonian–
Like many Denison students, I am still in shock about the recent election. The idea of a complete far right victory was always a possibility, but never a likely one. However, while many are focused on the ascendency of Donald Trump, who will go into his second term this time with a congressional majority and a plan. Several aspects of the election seem to have slipped between the cracks of the collective consciousness. One of these is the mobilization against ranked choice voting (RCV), a system where voters rank candidates for an elected office according to their preference. Voters choose their first choice candidate, second, third, and so on.
The Republican fight against RCV is one that has boiled under the surface for a while. There are several reasons for right wing groups to be against RCV. First, since America has only used our winner-take-all system until very recently RCV fits with the encyclopedic definition of progressive. With no historical precedent to prove it works many fear it could lead to bad outcomes. Secondly, it doesn’t fit with the Constitution which drew up our electoral college and government system with winner-take-all elections firmly in mind. A system that has helped Republicans claim the presidency without needing the popular vote. Though that wasn’t necessary this election. Lastly, while nominally hunting both major parties, by allowing the nation to choose their favorites in multiple rounds, it is democrats, who have more robust third party opposition from the likes of the Green party and social libertarians, that will suffer less or even gain in the short term from RCV.
Nine states had RCV on the ballot in 11 different proposals. Among those was my home state of Missouri where the majority Democratic St. Louis area had been threatening to impose RCV in local elections. As a result, the Missouri congress proposed amendment seven which would ban RCV in the state. Cleverly disguised as an amendment that would prevent illegal immigrants from voting, an act already illegal under federal law, it passed with flying colors. A similar bill, though without the ballot candy passed in Arkansas which repealed the state RCV system which was enacted in 2020.
Other than those three, there were eight bills on expanding RCV throughout the country, all of which failed. This held true even in places which seemed liberal and ripe for RCV expansion like Oregon and Colorado. With an impressive 100% failure rate RCV seems to have reached a temporary hay day early. With only a dozen or so states adopting it for local elections or certain primaries. At the state level Alaska repealed their plans to adopt RCV for their primaries, leaving Maine the only state to have a state wide RCV system.
To the liberals of Denison, this may look like the least of your problems. Except ranked choice voting may be a key part in the unification between the various groups that make up the Democratic voting base. Instead of pointing fingers at third parties or certain groups who were forced to completely abandon the party because of the economy, failed climate promises, or the war in Gaza and further alienating these groups. They could still retain a coalition relying on secondary votes where they have the definite advantage, being more closely aligned to both of the main third parties or any independent candidates that are likely to emerge in this system for those single issue voters.
But the true issue with the recent restrictions on RCV isn’t that it could provide one party a boost, it’s that it subverts our choice. Today we consign ourselves to choose between two evils, but with RCV that doesn’t need to happen. You can vote for a person who fits you almost exactly without having the nagging thought that you threw away your vote clawing at your mind. This allows third parties to actually have a chance, and puts pressure on the two major parties to actually work for the betterment of the people. Which is why in the next election we must be ready to acknowledge and mobilize for RCV. Because right now it is our best option for fixing the deadlocked system we are currently trapped in.