Ranked choice voting is not a ‘headache’

Althea Cole’s article published in The Gazette on Feb. 25 referred to Ranked Choice Voting as “headache inducing.” We believe it is just the opposite.

RCV is simply a way to make more options available to voters and to assure that if you don’t get your first choice, it is very likely that you’ll get your second choice. Not the win you hoped for, but certainly not the total loss you would experience in today’s voting method.

When you use ranked choice voting, you simply mark your first, second, and third choices. A majority of the votes is required to win. With today’s method, if 3 or more candidates run, we award the victory to the one who gets the most votes, even though they often have less than a majority. In our current method, it is not unusual to give the victory to a candidate who more people vote against than for. Using RCV assures that the winner will have the votes of a majority of the voters, even if for some, that candidate was their second choice.

It’s simple, transparent, easily audited, eliminates costly runoffs, and brings better attention to diverse interests. Maybe best of all, it is a powerful tool to reduce the deep political divide this country suffers from.

Alaska, Maine, Utah, and many southern states use RCV, mostly for municipal elections, but sometimes for statewide offices. Iowans should, at least, have the option to give it a try if they choose to do so.

Janet Boddicker Rampulla and Karen Lewis

Co-Presidents, League of Women Voters of Linn County