Advocates revive measure to give voters more choice

It might have helped Glenn Youngkin become governor of Virginia, though it may have almost cost Eric Adams the New York City mayor’s election.

Ranked-choice voting has been getting a lot of attention lately and it might be coming to a ballot near you.

The election system of prioritizing candidates increasingly has become popular across the United States, if not universally supported. A 2022 initiative is in the works to install this voting process in the city of San Diego, after a proposal for the City Council to put a similar measure on the ballot last year fell one vote short.

Ranked-choice voting can seem a bit confusing at first, but, taking a step back, the basic concept is something Americans are quite familiar with, just not necessarily in elections. People often list first, second, third choices, etc., for everything from movies they might see to food on a restaurant menu.

Advocates of rankedchoice voting say it has the potential to elect more consensus candidates and, thus, provides incentive for those running to think twice about going negative, because they likely will need secondary votes from their opponents’ backers.

The notion that something might reduce attack campaigns may sound a bit utopian for politics, but some studies suggest ranked choice has had that effect to some degree.

Dozens of cities and other jurisdictions conduct local elections by rankedchoice voting. Alaska and Maine use it for statewide elections, and other states hold presidential primaries that way.

Chad Peace, legal adviser to the San Diegobased Independent Voter Project, said the voting system comes from “the desire to have more choice and to have more diverse political discussion.”

The organization is part of a broad coalition called More Choice San Diego that’s attempting to bring ranked-choice voting to San Diego.

“It’s really not necessarily about civility per se, but it’s the ability to have an elevated discussion,” Peace said.

There are different versions of ranked-choice voting, but perhaps the best known is the “instant runoff.” The candidate who receives the lowest number of first-choice votes is eliminated and their supporters’ votes go to their second choice, then, if necessary, third choice, etc., until a