| Matthew Oberstaedt | FairVote |
On May 26, Texas held runoff elections in primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and a variety of statewide offices. The runoffs may have cost taxpayers as much as $23 million.
Turnout in the high-profile Republican Senate runoff declined 36% from the March 3 primary. The median turnout drop was 42%, with a decline as high as 82% in a Democratic primary for Texas’s 17th congressional district.
Better, faster, cheaper
Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a better, faster, and cheaper alternative to runoffs. It would let Texas voters pick majority winners in a single, high-turnout election, without the cost of delayed runoffs.