Ranked choice voting fever continues to spread as more states and localities consider the system following the lead of Maine, the first state to use the voting system. From an article at the local Worcester Magazine put together by Bill Shaner:

This year, with more than 30 candidates announcing early intentions to enter the race, things may be different. School Committee and City Council could see more challengers than incumbents. If that turns out to be the case once the nomination process concludes, it would certainly buck the trend of recent years.

There is a case to be made that the current voting system favors incumbents and discourages both voter participation and the incentive to mount a campaign – so what if we had a different system?In a new report, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau probes the question of adopting ranked-choice voting, and sees it as something that could foster more engagement in local elections.

See the full article at Worcester Magazine. A change to ranked voting and away from the universally used plurality voting system is beginning to be seen by many in both parties as a potential game changer. Recently there was similar news out of Missouri:

The proposal filed to go before lawmakers in the new legislative session would require federal, state and local elections to use the Instant Runoff Voting Method (IRV). The IRV bill from Republican Representative Dan Stacy of Blue Springs would establish a form of casting ballots in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. In the event that one candidate fails to achieve a 50 percent-plus-one majority, the candidate with the fewest number of first-preference rankings is eliminated and those votes are redistributed. The process is repeated until one candidate achieves the required majority.

Other states and localities that have recently seen legislation proposed to make the switch to ranked choice voting include Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, the city of Baltimore, and at least four cities in Utah. Click those links for the latest related Democracy Chronicles coverage. So what is ranked choice voting? According to Democracy Chronicles’ friends at at the nonpartisan nonprofit FairVote, an organization with its headquarters in Takoma Park, Maryland:

Ranked choice voting (RCV) makes democracy more fair and functional. It works in a variety of contexts. It is a simple change that can have a big impact. With ranked choice voting, voters can rank as many candidates as they want in order of choice. Candidates do best when they attract a strong core of first-choice support while also reaching out for second and even third choices.

When used as an “instant runoff” to elect a single candidate like a mayor or a governor, RCV helps elect a candidate that better reflects the support of a majority of voters. When used as a form of fair representation voting to elect more than one candidate like a city council, state legislature or even Congress, RCV helps to more fairly represent the full spectrum of voters.