The Patriot Post® · Ranked Choice Voting Is a Trojan Horse

Democrats increasingly warn that “our democracy is under serious threat,” and then they proceed to point to any Republican political successes as evidence to support their claim. Ironically, one of the issues about which Democrats will scream the loudest is the passage of election integrity laws, such as were passed in Georgia and Texas. Specifically, Democrats object to voter ID laws, ridiculously asserting that they are racist, and they disenfranchise minority voters. Never mind the fact that arguing minorities are somehow less capable of obtaining IDs is itself inherently racist.

Meanwhile, these same Democrats push for election laws that are ripe for fraud, such as massive mail-in balloting. As we have repeatedly observed, the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform led by Jimmy Carter back in 2005 warned against mail-in balloting because it lacked the necessary controls to protect against fraud.

But it’s not just efforts to expand voting beyond commonsense election integrity safeguards that Democrats are pushing; they are also scheming about underhanded election practices that favor leftist candidates.

One of the most insidious of these election schemes is ranked choice voting. As our late Lewis Morris observed, “Ranked choice voting is a rotten system.” He explained:

In a ranked choice election, voters are encouraged to rank all the candidates on the ballot from favorite to least favorite. First-place votes are counted, and if one candidate emerges with at least 50%-plus-one of the vote, then that person is declared the winner and the election is over. However, if no clear winner emerges, then another round of vote counting takes place in which the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. The votes of those who cast their ballot for an eliminated candidate instead go to their next choice. This process continues until only two candidates remain, with the winner being the one with the most votes in the final round.

Proponents of ranked choice argue that it will give everyone greater voting choices, give less popular candidates a greater opportunity to win, and eliminate the extreme fringe candidates.

The trouble is that it does no such thing. Instead, ranked choice is a mechanism that allows wealthy mega-donors to thwart the will of the majority. For proof, we need only look at who lavishly supports this disingenuous election scheme: One of its biggest funders is George Soros, and the overwhelming majority of those supporting ranked choice are on the Left, like Hillary Clinton’s former campaign fundraiser, Kathryn Murdoch.

Ranked choice voting is “overwhelmingly a crusade funded by left-wing Democrats,” observed Scott Walter, president of the conservative watchdog Capital Research Center. “I see it as a further weakening of the two-party system. And as bad as the two parties are, they are a lot more accountable and a lot better than the megadonors.”

Well, with the likes of Soros and Clinton pushing this election scheme, it’s hard to argue. Furthermore, with ranked choice expanding from 10 cities in 2016 to now 50, and with recent election outcomes having favored the Democrats, it becomes clear that this scheme is designed to undermine Republican-controlled localities and states.

For example, thanks to ranked choice voting, Democrats in 2022 “won” their first House seat in Alaska in 50 years. In 2018 in Maine, Republican incumbent Bruce Poliquin was unseated by ranked choice voting despite the fact that he had won 46.3% of the initial vote and bested his Democrat challenger Jared Golden by 2,171 votes. However, because more secondary votes went to Golden, he won the election and flipped the seat to the Democrats.

The truth is, ranked choice voting is a bigger threat to America’s democratic process than anything Democrat politicians and Leftmedia talkingheads can point to. This coming November, residents in Oregon and Nevada will vote to decide if their states will adopt this dubious election scheme. Efforts are underway to get ranked choice onto the ballot in Colorado, Idaho, and Montana.

Ranked choice voting is a Trojan Horse that appeals to many voters and seems benign to many others. In the end, though, it may rob voters of their power at the ballot box.