There was an interesting and lengthy new post on the subject of ranked voting in Austin, Texas at the Community Impact Newspaper by Christopher Neely. Take a look at this excerpt:

This May, Austinites could have the chance to vote on a quartet of significant changes to the city’s governance structure and democratic process if a petition submitted Jan. 11 is deemed valid by the city clerk.

Among the proposed changes is a switch to a ranked-choice voting system, also known as instant-runoff or preferential voting. The system, which allows voters at the ballot box to rank candidates by preference, would effectively eliminate June and December runoff elections. These runoffs are currently required in Texas when no candidate in a May or November election earns more than 50% of the vote, but they have been widely criticized for their cost and low turnout rates and for narrowing the electorate ultimately responsible for the election results.

Maine just became the first state to ever use the ranked choice voting system, starting only in 2018. Since then, a flurry of states and localities have been considering a switch to the unique system. 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 gamechanger.

Other states and localities that have recently seen legislation proposed to make the switch to ranked choice voting include Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,  New Jersey, New York City, Baltimore, and at least two 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 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.

Also see related Democracy Chronicles articles like those on Voting Methods, Direct Democracy, and definitely checkout our main Voting Methods section.