Ranked Choice Voting: Serving Over 9 Million Voters and Counting

image
Published: 29 Jan, 2021
Updated: 14 Aug, 2022
1 min read

In this episode of Toppling the Duopoly, election reform expert and host Shawn Griffiths takes a look at the momentum behind ranked choice voting. Of all the nonpartisan reforms being proposed to transform the political process to one that is truly "of, by, and for" the people, the one that is bringing more voters, scholars, public figures, and reform advocates together is ranked choice voting. Joining Shawn to talk about this is Deb Otis, the Senior Research Analyst for the national nonpartisan reform group FairVote.

Ranked choice voting has been adopted and/or implemented in 21 cities and 2 states (Alaska and Maine), representing a total voting age population of over 9.2 million people. It has gone from an optimistic thought experiment to a reform that, in practice, boosts voters' confidence in elections, raises turnout, increases civility on the campaign trail, and has been accepted by the DOJ as a remedy to Voting Rights Act violations and racial inequality in elections.

Want to learn more about ranked choice voting? Check out the podcast, and if you like it or find it informative, leave a review where possible and follow or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also help keep Toppling the Duopoly going by becoming a financial supporter, an option available on Anchor. Your listenership is greatly appreciated.

Latest articles

Marijuana plant.
Why the War on Cannabis Refuses to Die: How Boomers and the Yippies Made Weed Political
For much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American physicians freely prescribed cannabis to treat a wide range of ailments. But by the mid-twentieth century, federal officials were laying the groundwork for a sweeping criminal crackdown. Cannabis would ultimately be classified as a Schedule I substance, placed alongside heroin and LSD, and transformed into a political weapon that shaped American policy for the next six decades....
30 Jun, 2025
-
2 min read
Donald Trump standing behind presidential podium and in front of two American flags.
Has Trump Made His Case for the Nobel Peace Prize?
A news item in recent days that was overshadowed in the media by SCOTUS and the One Big Beautiful Budget Bill was a US-brokered peace agreement that was signed between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – which if it holds will end a conflict between the two countries that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of people....
30 Jun, 2025
-
7 min read
Picture of skyscraper in New York behind a bridge.
Knives Come Out Against Reform at NYC CRC Hearing as Independents Rise
Last week in Staten Island, the NYC Charter Revision Commission held its next-to-last public hearing. As Commissioner Diane Savino commented, addressing NYC's closed primary system “is the single biggest issue we’ve heard this year.”...
30 Jun, 2025
-
3 min read