All politics should be local — ranked choice voting can help
When the Framers drafted the Constitution, they sought to balance power between the states and the national government, thereby reflecting and protecting the diversity of lifestyles, interests and views of the American people. Under this federalist system, American politics long maintained distinct local and regional brands, from “Rockefeller Republicans” in the Northeast to “blue-dog Democrats” in the South.
In recent times, however, American politics has centralized into a nationwide partisan battle, with regional brands fading away and campaigns from president to town council focused on the same set of issues. In turn, our politics has become more polarized, more nationalized, and less reflective of the uniqueness of our local cultures and needs. One electoral reform may help push back against this trend: ranked-choice voting.
Ranked-choice voting (RCV), a “hot reform” although by no means new, works by allowing voters to rank the candidates rather than select just one. With this information election officials can run an instant-runoff election, eliminating the least popular candidates one-by-one until one candidate reaches majority support. Compared to the current system, where candidates can win with paltry levels of support, RCV ensures that the winning candidate broadly appeals to voters and best reflects the viewpoints of the electorate.
With a majority necessary to win, RCV encourages candidates to reach out to more voters and grapple with more issues. A campaign focused solely on boosting turnout among existing supporters using national talking points becomes much riskier. Instead, candidates benefit by engaging with opponents’ voters, addressing their concerns, and asking them for a second-choice vote if not first.
RCV advocates from across the political spectrum have long pointed to the reduction in polarization and better representation the voting system brings, and as RCV has spread across the country, the proof is in the pudding. Look no further than the re-emergence of the new “blue dog” Democrats—Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) and Mary Peltola (D-AK)—who represent districts won by Donald Trump in 2020 and have established reputations for pushing back on their party leadership. All three of these “blue dogs” come from states that have enacted electoral reforms, be it RCV (Maine), nonpartisan primaries (Washington), or both (Alaska), and each benefitted by reaching out to voters from the other party on local issues.
While the electoral reforms worked to the benefit of Democrats in these “blue-dog” districts, RCV has proven to be beneficial to locally oriented Republicans as well. The Virginia GOP used RCV in their 2021 gubernatorial convention, helping Glenn Youngkin—who ran a campaign centered on local issues such as education—defeat his more nationally minded opponents and go on to win in a blue-leaning state. While electoral reforms like RCV are no silver bullet for our increasing political polarization, they have thus far proven to help push in a healthier direction.
Despite this positive momentum, and perhaps fittingly for our political moment, RCV has become yet another front in our national partisan debate. Many Republicans, upset that Golden, Gluesenkamp Perez, and Peltola won in erstwhile GOP districts, have blamed the rules for their defeat, and many legislatures in red states have taken steps to curtail RCV within their borders. These bans not only prevent positive reforms from taking root at the local level, but they are antithetical to the principle of localism, putting state lawmakers between local governments and their residents. Rather than implementing a one-size-fits-all approach, these states should emulate our Founding Fathers’ commitment to local rule and let localities decide their own methods for choosing their leaders.
Ultimately, far too much of our politics has become wrapped up in national narratives that drive turnout among a narrow bloc of voters and increase polarization. As former Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill once said, “all politics are local.” RCV could help nudge us back in that direction by empowering broadly popular candidates, encouraging outreach to more voters, and creating room for local issues in our political debate.
Matt Germer is the director of the Governance Program and a resident fellow at the R Street Institute.
