Ranked Choice Voting: How Ranking Candidates Lets Montgomery County Choose Politicians

Among bills being proposed for the 2019 Legislative Session in the Maryland House of Delegates, a bill proposing the adaptation of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV, alternatively titled Instant Runoff Voting) in Montgomery County has already received media attention.  The bill, sponsored by Delegates Luedtke (D) and Kagan (D), would give the Montgomery County Council the authority to implement a different method of voting. Currently, the candidate with the most votes from Montgomery County residents wins the seat, regardless of whether or not they earn at least 50% of the vote.  

As an alternative to the current plurality-based system, Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to rank candidates from best to worst (one to five respectively). The proposed bill does not specify that other alternative voting systems, outside of RCV, may not be used. There are benefits and drawbacks to the system; while it spurs higher voter literacy due to voting for candidates on their platforms rather than voting based on party-line, it deters turnout.  

Even in politically literate areas like San Francisco, the use of RCV led to “lazier” voters. When 16 candidates ran for mayor in 2011, 27.1% of votes were discarded according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Some San Franciscans did not see the value in ranking all 16 candidates, and those who did not do so may have found their ballots discarded after a few instant runoff rounds.

In other areas where RCV has been adopted, however, constituents have demonstrated a greater faith to the workings of democracy. In Maine, voters adopted RCV because they wanted the option to vote for Independent candidates at a higher rate than plurality voting allows for, according to The Hill.  RCV allows candidates outside of the traditional two-party system to win seats, especially in local elections.

Maryland Delegate Marc Korman (D), is supportive of Luedtke’s bill, especially with regards to local elections.  In Montgomery County, “there is a desire to ensure that candidates with a wide base of support win the primary and general elections,” Korman said. “RCV is one potential way to do that.”

RCV is not uncommon outside of the United States. Since 1921, the island Country of Malta and the Republic of Ireland have both used RCV for parliamentary elections.  This new voting system could change the way Montgomery County elects its County Council, and it just might touch the electorate in other states in the near future.

Delegate Luedtke, the bill’s sponsor, is hopeful for the future of RCV in Montgomery County. “Ranked choice voting or approval voting are just better ways of voting – it ensures that the people who are elected have support from a majority of the electorate.” Luedtke argues that our current system of plurality voting “discourages third party candidates [from] running because that might take too many votes away from a major party candidate who supports similar issues.” Takoma Park has been using RCV for its city elections since 2007, and their constituents are favorable towards the system.  This bodes well for its implementation into broader county elections.

Article by MoCo Student staff writer Lindsay Keiser of Walt Whitman High School