Political turmoil is considered to be at an all-time high with deepening polarization, increased political violence and increased dissatisfaction in election systems.
In the 2024 election in the state of Michigan, no federal official was elected by a true majority of over 50% of the voters. This has led to a large amount of frustration that elected officials can take office without the support of a majority of voters.
Rank MI Vote, a volunteer-run and non-partisan non-profit, is pushing for the institution of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in the state of Michigan.
A RCV system allows the voter to rank their preferred candidates by selecting a first choice, second choice, and so forth for as many candidates the voter wishes to rank. The system Rank MI Vote is promoting utilizes an instant runoff system to tally the votes.
An instant runoff system ensures the victorious candidate obtains over 50% of the votes. The count begins by tallying the first place votes. If one candidate obtains 50% they automatically win. If not, the recipient of the lowest number of votes gets eliminated and all votes for the eliminated candidate as the first choice move to the second choice and are added to the remaining candidates totals. This process of eliminating the lowest vote recipient continues until a candidate obtains at least 50% of the votes. Once 50% is reached, the process stops and the recipient is automatically declared the winner.
Rank MI vote’s primary objective is to see whether or not to adopt the system in the state of Michigan on the ballot in a future election.
In order to make this happen, Rank MI Vote hopes to start a petition to initiate a citizen-led constitutional amendment. Once the petition opens, they will have 180 days to collect 450,000 signatures to put RCV on the ballot.
RJ Doroshewitz, Rank MI Vote volunteer and former editor-in-chief of The Perspective, spoke on the prospect of RCV.
“Political discontent in the country is at dangerous levels because people just aren’t satisfied with the way that elections are working for them,” said Doroshewitz. “[The current election system] leads to negative campaigning. You have to attack your opponent, because they have to be bad guys, you have to be the good guys, and leads to voter disillusionment and legislative gridlock.”
“[RCV] leads to better representation. People can run for office without fear of vote splitting. You know, there won’t be a situation like the main election where somebody entering the race means that somebody else necessarily has to lose. It leads to [a] stronger democracy. “
“When you have a candidate that’s guaranteed to have a majority of the vote, that means that they have more of a mandate to lead, as opposed to somebody that was elected by winning 30% or 40% and it promotes coalitions, because when you have the option to vote for multiple candidates, it encourages those candidates to find common ground with each other.”
Critics believe the system would be too confusing for the American voters and have cited numerous instances of voters not ranking their opinions from places where the system is already in place.
Currently, RCV systems are in place in both Maine and Alaska. In the 2024 election, adopting RCV was on the ballot in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon but was unsuccessful in all four. However, Washington D.C. voted to adopt the system going forward. RCV has been banned in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Missouri, with Missouri’s ban as a result of the 2024 election.
Learn more about RCV in Michigan at Rank MI Vote.
