Ranked Choice Voting: A Way Out?

 by: Brandon Marx

    Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a voting system gaining popularity across the country, offering a transformative approach to our elections, and is currently used in a handful of elections across the country. RCV is a system of voting that allows each person to rank their preferred candidates in order, instead of having to fall for the traditional "lesser of two evils" decision so commonly made. 

Watch this quick 1 minute video to see how RCV works: 

    At it's core, RCV gives the power of representation--- an opportunity to elect officials who align most with your morals and view points, without the fear a wasted or spoiler vote--- if, for example, Diego Owl is your ideal candidate, but you're worried that Abel Frog's platform is so bad that any vote other than the top candidate, Gloria Beaver would effectively just be a vote for Abel Frog, then you're not voting for your interests, you're voting to keep the worst person out of office, not for the best one to be elected.

    To bring this to reality, our country operates in a 2 party system, and any candidate outside of these two parties are never given the chance or opportunity to be taken seriously, as the other candidate is always just worse. Homelessness, as well as a myriad of other systemic issues across this country, is a symptom of this political disenfranchisement, further marginalizing underrepresented communities. With the ability to vote for who you actually want instead of who you really don't, a wide range of opportunities would open up for this country and we could see transformative solutions put in place, voting for policy---- wether it be solutions to homelessness, economic inequality, social rights, etc. RCV would allow us a Portlanders to prioritize candidates who have strong, ethical, and substantive platforms as it relates to homelessness.

With RCV in affect, a candidate would have to rely on their own platform and policy, effectively requiring that they have solutions for such issues as homelessness, gone would be the days where "I'm not him!" is good enough--- RCV also has the opportunity to make our elections less volatile, it would do no good to alienate a subset of voters by spending millions on attack ads for a candidate, if you are also trying to capture their bases' 2nd or 3rd choice vote.

Through RCV, we have the opportunity to build a more equitable voting system, one that could bring along social justices, a more equitable economy, and help get to the route causes of issues like homelessness.

Learn more about RCV as it relates specifically to Oregon: Here!