A new voting system could fix American democracy: Ranked-choice ballots

Lee Drutman wrote about ranked-choice voting for NBC News.

New York now joins more than 15 U.S. cities and one state (Maine) in using the voting method, which is a significant improvement over the traditional process of whichever-candidate-gets-the-most-votes-wins. This reform is increasingly taking hold because the case for ranked-choice voting is simple and profound: It gives voters more options, allows them to express their preferences better, and makes politics more civil and cooperative.

Is it so profound that it can fix American democracy? Maybe. If you believe the biggest problem in American democracy is partisan polarization (as I do), ranked-choice voting is proven to counteract some of the “I win by making you lose” zero-sum logic of our current election style, incentivizing compromise, civility and moderation, and leading to more diverse candidates.

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