What are your pros and cons to a ranked choice voting system?

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Socreta93

Socreta93

Senior Member
#1
Jul 28, 2015
2,247
327
83
#1
Ranked-choice voting is an electoral system that allows people to vote for multiple candidates, in order of preference. Instead of just choosing who you want to win, you fill out the ballot saying who is your first choice, second choice, or third choice (or more as needed) for each position.

The candidate with the majority (more than 50%) of first-choice votes wins outright. If no candidate gets a majority of first-choice votes, then it triggers a new counting process. The candidate who did the worst is eliminated, and that candidate’s voters’ ballots are redistributed to their second-choice pick. In other words, if you ranked a losing candidate as your first choice, and the candidate is eliminated, then your vote still counts: it just moves to your second-choice candidate. That process continues until there is a candidate who has the majority of votes.

I've seen by many online that they prefer a ranked choice voting system, especially those like me that hates the two party system and voting third party will get you "throwing your vote away" comments. I'm not sure which side of the spectrum a ranked choice voting system favors but regardless what are your thoughts on it and would it be better or worse?
 
Lynx

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
#2
Aug 13, 2014
24,931
8,176
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#2
How many votes do you get to rank?

Are there that many people I could in good conscience vote for? I can't think of more than two.
 
S

SanderB

Guest
#3
#3
Socreta93 said:
Ranked-choice voting is an electoral system that allows people to vote for multiple candidates, in order of preference. Instead of just choosing who you want to win, you fill out the ballot saying who is your first choice, second choice, or third choice (or more as needed) for each position.

The candidate with the majority (more than 50%) of first-choice votes wins outright. If no candidate gets a majority of first-choice votes, then it triggers a new counting process. The candidate who did the worst is eliminated, and that candidate’s voters’ ballots are redistributed to their second-choice pick. In other words, if you ranked a losing candidate as your first choice, and the candidate is eliminated, then your vote still counts: it just moves to your second-choice candidate. That process continues until there is a candidate who has the majority of votes.

I've seen by many online that they prefer a ranked choice voting system, especially those like me that hates the two party system and voting third party will get you "throwing your vote away" comments. I'm not sure which side of the spectrum a ranked choice voting system favors but regardless what are your thoughts on it and would it be better or worse?
Click to expand...
Here is a video that talks about ranked choice voting:
 
ResidentAlien

ResidentAlien

Well-known member
#4
Apr 21, 2021
7,591
3,173
113
#4
I doubt it will ever fly, it's way too complicated. A lot of people don't vote as it is and something like this would just discourage people from voting even more. I'm curious what this system would do to the electoral college. Replace it, modify it?
 
notmyown

notmyown

Senior Member
#5
May 26, 2016
4,710
1,135
113
#5
there are pros and cons, but i believe the cons outweigh the pros. it's complicated so i won't try to explain here. you can look it up and see for yourself. the way it works, you can ultimately have your vote cast for someone you seriously disagree with on principles and issues.

it seems to be popular mainly among young people, from what i've observed.
 
D

DRobinson

Active member
#6
Aug 23, 2023
354
175
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#6
The best change is that every ballot should have "none of the above " as a choice and if "none of the above" won
there should be another election in 30 days with all on the first ballot disqualified.
 
Billyd

Billyd

Senior Member
#7
May 8, 2014
5,055
1,495
113
#7
DRobinson said:
The best change is that every ballot should have "none of the above " as a choice and if "none of the above" won
there should be another election in 30 days with all on the first ballot disqualified.
Click to expand...
I like this, but I'd hold a new primary election in 30 days, and a new general election in 60 days. I'd also require two mandatory debates for each election.
 
jennymae

jennymae

Well-known member
#10
Feb 28, 2020
1,464
605
113
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#10
Over here they’ve got a multitude of candidates. It is not a ranked choice system, but you can vote for the conservatives, the labor party, the Christian party, (and Christian parties that don’t find other Christian parties Christian enough), three or four different kinds of libertarians, the progressive party (which despite the name is a right wing party), the farmers party, the industry and business party, the green parties, the communists, the socialists, the democrats (also a right wing party despite the name) and so forth and etc.

The flip side of this is that none of the parties get enough votes to run the country alone. They have to cooperate with other parties, and then their political agendas are downplayed. That means the voters don’t get the politics they are voting for. It also means that the promises made before the election can’t be fulfilled (if they ever meant to).
 
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