Episode 1: Is Ranked Choice a Better Choice? Welcome to Beyond Party Lines, where we take the political noise out of politics. “Sometimes you just have to vote for the lesser of two evils” “Don’t throw away your vote on a third-party candidate” “Anybody but [insert either candidate here]” Sound familiar? Our electoral system plays into that idea it’s normal to vote AGAINST someone rather than FOR someone. We can’t exercise our voices without wasting our votes. But there are other systems out there, designed to help you vote for someone that actually represents you without sacrificing your vote. Maybe there’s a better way. Today we’re discussing Ranked Choice Voting, and how it could bring more power back to voters, and give them more (and better) choices. Show Highlights: Pros and cons of our current plurality voting system How some candidates are winning with as little as 26% of the vote How (and why) our current elections reinforce the two-party system Why run-offs don’t always work as well as they’re supposed to The costs of holding run-offs and special elections How Ranked Choice voting works The pros and cons of Ranked Choice Who is using Ranked Choice successfully Sources & Further Reading: https://time.com/5718941/ranked-choice-voting/ https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095737871 https://www.fairvote.org/what_affects_voter_turnout_rates https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/election-costs.aspx https://ballotpedia.org/Runoff_election https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2017/02/20/estimate-special-election-costs-less-expected/98150380/ https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/voter-turnout-in-presidential-elections https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/rcv.html https://www.npr.org/2020/10/07/921287288/how-maines-ranked-choice-voting-system-works https://www.vox.com/2020/11/19/21537126/alaska-measure-2-ranked-choice-voting-results https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2020/11/04/why-did-massachusetts-reject-ranked-choice-voting https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/07/08/two-utah-lawmakers-seek/ Follow Us & Add to The Conversation! Facebook Twitter Instagram