With midterm elections taking place on November 8, control of Congress remains uncertain. However, with the existence of only two successful political parties, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, voters know that Congress will be controlled by one of these groups. This presents a major issue within the United States’ political system. The lack of capable third parties forces Americans to choose between supporting the two major parties’ policies, even if they do not necessarily agree with either party. For example, voting for the Democratic Party means voting for climate regulation, social justice, pro-choice policies, and gun control. The other choice is casting a ballot in favor of the Republican Party, resulting in the opposition of any policy of the Democratic Party and the support of all Republican policies. The two-party system is a significant problem because most people don’t have the same opinion on all issues; for example, a pro-lifer may also support Medicare.
In other countries, the legislature-based system of government increases the power of third parties. These systems allow political parties based on other issues to have influence, meaning that a pro-life, Medicare-for-all party could push for the policies they want without fear of losing support.
However, a solution may result in third parties effectively winning seats and more closely representing the will of the people: ranked choice voting (RCV). Also known as preferential voting, RCV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. For example, a voter is most focused on the environment and has little care for other policies, although they dislike those of the Republican Party. Therefore, they would mark Green Party as their first preference, the Democratic Party as their second preference, and the Libertarian Party as their third preference on their ballot. After votes are counted in this theoretical situation, no party wins the majority, and the Green Party gets the least votes. Therefore, this person’s original vote is transferred to their second preference—in this case, the Democratic candidate. Then, with the addition of some second-choice votes from those who initially voted for the Green Party, the Democratic candidate gains a majority and wins the seat.
Ranked Choice Voting operates well because voters don’t have to vote against a candidate—meaning that, rather than casting their ballot for the party most likely to beat their least-preferable candidate, they can vote for the party they support. In the current system, voting for the Green Party could help a voter’s least-preferable candidate win, but with RCV, this does not happen. Some states have already put RCV into place.
Alaska used ranked choice voting in its recent special election. The candidate with the most initial votes (Mary Peltola) won. However, in reality, she didn’t win against the Trump-backed Republican (Sarah Palin) with only Democratic support. She received second preference votes from those whose first choice was the Moderate Republican. Through RCV, Moderates could support their first-choice candidate without risking Sarah Palin’s victory. Additionally, in some elections, the candidate of a third, often more moderate, the party will win the seat, allowing that party to vote in Congress on crucial issues, such as abortion, voting rights, climate change, the economy, and healthcare.
Implementing RCV isn’t as difficult as it may seem. Although there is a bill in Congress to begin using RCV in US elections, RCV can be put into place more quickly using state ballot initiatives, in which a petition with enough signatures is presented as a proposition on the next ballot. Then, if most voters in that state approve it, the proposition becomes law. Ballot initiatives are how RCV was implemented in Maine and Alaska, and may become part of the voting process in other states, like Nevada, which has RCV on its ballot this year.
As we head into the midterms, we must recognize that third parties can help make our political system more stable and less divided. While there are only two major parties, there are far more than two political positions. It’s time our legislature reflects the diversity of thought in this country, and we can help this happen with the implementation of RCV.