Ranked Choice Voting Research Paper

Words: 1172
Pages: 5

Kevin Witt
Bethy Butler
University Writing
27 April 2018
Ranked Choice Voting Every two years, the entire United States House of Representatives is up for re-election. This seemingly sets up the chamber to be composed of different members every cycle; however, without term limits, limits on fundraising, and having only one alternative candidate districts turn into reliably red or decisively blue districts, electing the same member or a different member from the same party year after year, cycle after cycle. This creates a multitude of problems such as members not representing the values of their constituents, rather the fringe voters who elect them in the primaries, members becoming corrupt and complacent in the process, and members not serving,
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Far-left democrats choose their ideal candidate in their primary, and extreme--right Republicans choose their ideal candidate in their primary for the two to face off. This leaves a multitude of people who identify as centrists, a completely different political ideology, without a candidate. The Centrist Project, while having a different approach to the same goal, describes the utter importance and need of more ideologies within our politics today. Our political system is at a crossroads. Our two parties are producing zero results for the American people, as they are more focused on running to the extremes to win elections than coming to center to solve problems. The political pendulum swings back and forth, but very little is getting done. It’s time to change the equation (Wheelan).
Easily, activists turn to a third party, and yet the valiant call for a third party is uniquely unattainable in America because of the monopoly the Republican and Democratic parties have on the system and the difference between federal government and state government. My goal of reforming how US House members are elected, will not affect how Senators, Governors, or the President are elected, nor should it. Having a third party in the House but nowhere else in our government would be odd at best and working as obstructionists at worst. Asking for a third party and desiring more diversity of opinion
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By keeping the districts the same, single-member, districts they are today, we keep the benefits of our system today, such as having a single member representing the district and being grouped with like minded individuals in the district. The only change that would be noticeably different would be at the polls when we switch to a Ranked Choice Voting System, or RCV.
In fact, according to fairvote.org, this system would not necessarily change who wins but how they win. Former President Barack Obama (D-IL) and his rival, Senator and Former Presidential Nominee John McCain (R-AZ), both agree, RCV is the fairest way to have a representative democracy. For this reason, we find ourselves moved past the possible issue of RCV helping one party or the other and into the reason of why we would