Ranked Choice Voting for Florida
A deeply divided electorate motivated more by fear and hatred for the opposition than support and enthusiasm for their candidate of choice. Campaigns focused on tearing down the opposition instead of sharing their governing vision. A series of character attacks and moral justifications devoid of policy or vision. You could forgive the average voter for just throwing up their arms and walking away from the whole process. But in fact, we have seen just the opposite, with increased turnout and engagement at all levels.
Too often, voters feel like they are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, or, unable to support their ideal choice for fear of the spoiler effect. In multi-candidate fields, the frustration can be further exasperated by candidates winning a victory with less than fifty percent of the vote and leaving the electorate feeling unrepresented. Elections don’t need to feel this way, and we have the power to change it. The solution is Ranked Choice Voting.
Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to select their favorite candidate, but also rank the rest of the candidates. The first-place votes are tallied, and the lowest candidate is eliminated, and the second-place votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates. This process is repeated until one candidate receives a majority of first place votes. Ranked Choice Voting has three positive effects on the election process; it ensures that the most broadly representative candidate will succeed, it removes the fear of the spoiler effect, and it saves money by eliminating costly runoff elections.
Under the current plurality system, a candidate’s best chance for success, especially in a multi-candidate field, is not broad appeal and consensus but the support of a plurality, even if it comes at the cost of alienating a majority of the electorate. The evolution of candidates speaking to a seemingly smaller and smaller set of supporters is not intrinsic or inevitable; it is built into the fabric of the plurality approach to voting in so many of our elections.
Imagine an election with four candidates; A, B, C, and D. Candidate A is the favorite of 30% of the electorate but the least favorite of the other 70%. Candidate B is the favorite of 28% of voters and the second favorite of the other 62%. Candidate C and D are the favorite of 24% and 22% respectively, with both splitting Candidate B’s second place votes, 14% each, and then have an equal distribution of third and fourth place votes. Under a plurality system, Candidate A, who may have received slightly more first place votes but is clearly less representative of the electorate, would win the election. Under a top-two runoff format, candidates A and B would move on and, assuming the second-place preferences held, candidate B would win in a landslide. However, this runoff would require a second election, additional fundraising, more campaigning, and less transition time to prepare for governing. With Ranked Choice Voting, Candidate B would emerge victorious and without the need for an additional runoff election.
Another advantage of Ranked Choice Voting is the removal of the spoiler effect. The fear of the spoiler effect is often borne out most strikingly in general elections with two less popular party candidates and a popular independent. Many people prefer the independent, but fear that their vote will be wasted and will have the effect of helping their least favorite candidate against their second favorite candidate. So, they hold their nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. This decision, played out across the electorate, results in few votes for the independent candidate and discounts the ideas and policies that led them to be popular in the first place. Ranked Choice Voting allows you to vote for the candidate you like best, without worrying about spoiling your vote for the second-place candidate. If conventional wisdom holds, and the independent has the least amount of first-place votes, your vote will now count for your second favorite candidate, as if you had voted for them all along. Voters free to vote their conscious would lead to a truer reflection of the electorate’s preferences and force candidates to run as the best option, and not simply the lesser of two evils.
Finally, Ranked Choice Voting saves money by removing the need for costly runoff elections. This was borne out in the latest Mayoral election in Tampa, where the eventual winner, Mayor Castor, received 49% of the vote in a seven-candidate field, but was forced into a runoff whose result was all but guaranteed.
Ranked Choice Voting was utilized for the first time on a state-wide level in 2020 in the State of Maine. The State of Alaska, plus multiple municipalities, passed Ranked Choice Voting measures in 2020. In Florida, the City of Sarasota passed their own Ranked Choice Voting initiative in 2007 with a resounding 78% of the vote. However, the State of Florida has blocked the implementation in Sarasota, based on their reading of the Constitution that a plurality vote is needed. This interpretation has not only stopped implementation in Sarasota, but also discouraged further initiatives in other municipalities. Ranked Choice Voting would not be a panacea to fix all of the ills we face, but it would be a vital step in the right direction, and we should work to implement it statewide in Florida.
