Dear Editor
I have voted in 13 presidential elections, so I’m really sick of them.
I have decided it’s time to actually do something about it, and that’s why I have been hand writing letters to my Representatives about ranked-choice voting.
Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a simple improvement to the way we vote. With RCV, you can rank candidates on your ballot in the order you prefer: 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, and so on. If your favorite can’t win, your vote counts for your next choice.
Imagine what this means for candidates!
If a candidate wants to win under ranked-choice voting, they have to get lots of first choice votes from voters, but they also have to win the second and third choices of voters who preferred other candidates. This means candidates will be incentivized to find commonalities with each other rather than simply hurl insults.
The result? More civil campaigns with greater focus on issues.
Learn about RCV yourself and you just might decide to contact your representatives about it, too!
Gerry MacCamy
West Seattle
We should all follow MacCamy's lead and let our representatives in Olympia know how we feel about ranked-choice voting. The Local Options Bill (SHB1156) currently in the legislature (to be taken up again in January) is the bill that needs to pass to allow localities to use RCV.
To reemphasize points in MacCamy's excellent letter: RCV encourages voter engagement; increases voter influence; reduces the occasional disconnect between the broader electorate and election outcomes; discourages negative campaigning; minimizes "strategic" voting; and even broadens the definition of electability.
Only those who are skeptical of democracy generally, and of those pesky voters specifically, could possible be opposed to RCV. Alas, there appear to be more than a few such folks.