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Three months ago, Governor Ige signed Senate Bill 2162, which implements ranked choice voting (RCV) beginning next year for filling county council vacancies plus for special federal elections. This extremely limited bill will hopefully soon be amended to add all elections in Hawai'i.
In nonpartisan races, RCV could eliminate the need for "primaries" where voters whittle down the candidates to only two candidates to choose from in November.
Having RCV may invite more candidates to seek elective office, which gives voters more of a choice.
How many times has one not voted for their preferred candidate for fear that someone they do not support would win?
With RCV, one chooses the candidate they would most rather have for the specific position. If their preferred candidate does not receive the most votes, who would be a second choice for the voter?
One could choose a third choice and so on. The candidate with the fewest votes is removed and those voters who chose that individual then have their second choice receive their vote. This process continues until a candidate receives 50 percent plus one and they are then elected.
The person who is eventually declared the winner would be preferred by more of a cross section of voters. Less voters would "lose"; that is, in the current system, the voters who picked the losing candidate have "lost."
However, there is a better chance that more of a cross section of voters would have chosen the winning candidate.
Nick Nikhilananda
Huelo