Ranked Choice Voting, which is also known as Instant Runoff Voting, would let voters rank candidates in order of preference (first, second, third, etc.) instead of being restricted to choosing only one candidate. If a voter's first choice is eliminated, their vote is automatically reassigned to their second choice, ensuring that no voter is "throwing their vote away" by voting for the candidate that represents their views, regardless of that candidate's chance of winning.

The Spoiler Effect

It's happened in the closest and most important of races: two leading candidates are neck-and-neck for the same office. A third contender, who holds similar views to one of the leading candidates, enters the race, and—voila—he splits the vote away from one of the leading candidate and costs that candidate the election.

Whose fault was it? Was it the third party candidate who ruined the election for the candidate that would have won if only two people ran? Was it the candidate himself for not being able to handle the drain of votes to the newcomer? Or did the winning candidate's party actually plant the third-party candidate as an election strategy, which, while an unethical strategy, is completely legal and works like a charm?

The correct answer: our voting system itself. Under our current, one-shot-vote system, a perfectly popular candidate is punished merely because another candidate who shares part of his platform entered the race. With Ranked Choice Voting, vote splitters become vote "joiners", since voters are encouraged to compare candidates to one another in order to number them by preference, and election spoilers become election "fresheners", since more candidates means more perspectives, tougher questions, more accountability, and meaningful debate.

Vote your Values

Ranked Choice Voting lets people vote based on their values - and not worry about the horse race. It eliminates the fear that voting for the candidate you strongly support could help a candidate you strongly oppose. And it ensures that the winning candidate is the one with majority support, not the beneficiary of a "spoiled" election.