| Annie Pulley | The Badger Project |
Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor has officially gone off script, leading to a crowded field and the fear that a weaker general election candidate will emerge with just a plurality rather than a majority of the vote. Could the use of ranked-choice voting in the parties’ nomination process do a better job elevating candidates with more widespread support?
So then, a question arises: is it in a political party’s interest to decide their primaries by ranked-choice voting? Proponents say the system could deliver a candidate more popular in a general election.
Greater consensus building and more civil campaigns
Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank as many candidates as they would like. In the U.S., 51 jurisdictions, including two states, use this system for hundreds of elections, according to the American Bar Association.
Supporters argue that the system advances candidates who better represent the preferences of a wider range of voters, said Derek Clinger, senior counsel for the State Democracy Research Initiative, a research group based out of UW-Madison’s law school.
“The research, so far, suggests that elections with ranked-choice voting encourage greater consensus building and more civil campaigns, as candidates are incentivized to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate,” Clinger wrote in an email to The Badger Project.