The recent municipal election in Greenfield illustrates an annoying, recurring, and easily solved problem with our typical plurality-wins voting systems. With more than two candidates in the race, it is very possible that a majority of voters will not get the mayor they prefer. For example, if most of the Wedegartner/Gilmour voters prefer the other candidate to Allis, and if Allis ekes out a narrow 34%/33%/33 % victory, then two-thirds of Greenfield voters will not have gotten the candidate they preferred. This could also happen, for example, to Allis voters, if, for example, Gilmour, wins a narrow plurality, but most Allis voters happen to prefer Wedegartner as their second choice.
This fiasco can be avoided by adopting Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which is currently used in 25 states and in the Massachusetts towns of Cambridge and Amherst. Ranked Choice Voting is also sometimes referred to as “instant run-off” voting. With Ranked Choice Voting, voters rank their voting options in order of preference. They can “bullet vote” for only one candidate, or rank two, or rank three, or as many options as are on the ballot. If any candidate wins a majority (51%) on the first ballot, that person wins. Otherwise, using a computer, the votes of the last place candidate are eliminated, and the second place votes of that person’s voters are added to the totals of the other candidates. This process is repeated until one candidate gets over 51% of the votes. So, using another hypothetical, suppose Wedegartner wins a narrow victory 34% victory, and Gilmour comes in third. Gilmour is eliminated, and the second choice votes of her supporters are given to Wedegartner and Allis, one of whom would now be assured of having at least 51% support. For more on Ranked Choice Voting, see the website www.voterchoicema.org.
And while we’re on this subject, what sense does it make to have a preliminary election, if the losers can just mount write-in campaigns? Doesn’t that counteract the whole purpose of a preliminary election, which is presumably to reduce the number of candidates to two? If Greenfield does not adopt Ranked Choice Voting, how about eliminating write-ins for final elections? Or reserve write-ins for elections where there is only one candidate on the ballot?
Henry Hardy is a resident of Greenfield.