By Mark Bauer
The stock market may be in free fall, but something else is on the rise as we enter the first full month of Spring: A growing ranked choice voting movement. When given the option, voters continue to choose ranked choice voting as a fairer and more representative way to express their preferences at the ballot box.
Skokie, IL is the most recent municipality to adopt ranked choice voting in its elections, with voters favoring it by 58 percent. Skokie joins Oak Park as the second Illinois town in 6 months to adopt ranked choice voting in its municipal elections and beginning in 2027 will use it to elect its mayor, clerk, and Board of Trustees.
In 2022, another Illinois town voted to adopt a referendum outlining the use of ranked choice voting in its elections with 82 percent of voters in favor of it. The system was supposed to be implemented in Evanston, IL this month, but implementation has been halted so far, a decision that advocates are appealing.
While Evanston sorts out those issues, ranked choice voting is in full effect in Redondo Beach, CA. The beach town in the greater Los Angeles area passed ranked choice voting in 2023 and in March held its first election utilizing the new system.
A Growing RCV Movement
Where else is Ranked Choice Voting being used? Fair Vote has a running tabulation and counts 52 American jurisdictions using ranked choice voting in elections. That’s a whopping 420 percent increase from the 10 cities utilizing RCV in 2016.
If you need any further proof that Americans desire a fairer system for electing its democratic representatives, look no further than a Google Trend plotting growing interest in ranked choice voting since 2016.
What conclusions can we draw from this rapid increase in interest and implementation?
- It signals growing voter demand for better representation
- With more and more adoption, there are more and more case studies showing how RCV improves voter satisfaction
- Local wins build trust and familiarity, making voters more likely to pass and implement RCV at the state level
- While politics at the federal level continue to experience gridlock, RCV adoption demonstrates that democratic reform can be driven by school boards, city councils and local voters
As we survey the political landscape, it’s easy to feel disillusioned by a broken two-party electoral system that promotes partisan discord. But if you take a closer look, this spring is evidence that efforts over the last few years to plant democracy reforms like ranked choice voting are starting to bloom.
Help get ranked choice voting on ballots across the country by joining us or by donating.
The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rank the Vote.
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Mark Bauer is a producer, entrepreneur, day trader and former Independent candidate for Congress in Texas. Previously he spent 10 years as a legal journalist covering the legal market in Texas and regulatory issues in Washington DC.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Rank the Vote, its members, supporters, funders, or affiliates.
