Letter: Ranked Choice Voting Prevents Wasted Primary Votes, Divisiveness

Submitted (unpublished) Letter to the Editor, Bloomington Sun Current

I was one of 52,000 Minnesotans who voted early in the presidential primary for a candidate who eventually dropped out. Because that is always a possibility, I waited until Monday, March 2 to vote. I voted for Amy Klobuchar at 11 am. By noon, she had suspended her candidacy.

An obvious solution to this problem is Ranked Choice Voting for all elections and primaries.

With Ranked Choice Voting I would have ranked as my first choice the candidate of my heart, in this case Amy. Then I would have made a second choice (my second rank), and ideally even a third choice or rank. With such ranking, once Amy dropped out, my vote would have gone to my second choice.

As it stands, I basically threw away my vote, an aggravating thought, one that almost brought me to tears when I realized it. I was in the dentist’s chair and the pain was NOT from the dentist.

There are other excellent reasons for Bloomington and the entire state of Minnesota to switch to Ranked Choice Voting. One that resonates with me and with others is the potential decline in divisiveness and incivility in our political atmosphere.

If, for example, three candidates want to woo me to vote for them, each one must broaden his or her appeal to me. I will not be swayed by harsh partisan rhetoric that pits whole segments of society against one another. And if I were swayed by such partisanship, then I would simply vote for my candidate. I would not have to rank others.

With Ranked Choice Voting, two political parties begin to lose their sway over every election. A voter can truly vote for the candidate she believes will be the best for that office. If others don’t agree to the extent necessary for election, then the voter’s second choice may be the one to get elected. Either way, the voter wins, candidates win with a larger portion of the vote, and society wins.

Margaret Swanson, Bloomington