Ranked-choice voting explainer

of voting in D.C. We are talking about ranked choice voting. It is making its debut in this election. So how does it work? What does it mean for local races, including the at-large council contest as well? Well, we have Miguel Trindade-Duramo, executive director of Grow Democracy D.C. Civic Education Fund, joining us to break down what you at home need to know before you head to the polls. And the shirt, very fitting for today. But also for folks at home that may not know, this is the first time that this ranked choice voting will be happening in a general People need to know what it's going to look like when they head to the polls. That's right. And generally, twice as many people turn out for the general election as primary. So a lot of people will be using it for the first time. Although if you voted in June, you would have seen this already on your ballot. So rank choice, very simple. It's a voting method that gives voters more choice, more power. You know, for the voter, the experience is easy. You rank your favorite candidate number one on your ballot. And if you have backups, you can rank them second, third, fourth. And if your first choice candidate can't win with a real majority, 50% or more, your vote is reallocated to your next choice. And so it's a way that the system finds a consensual candidate who can reach more than 50%, a real majority, which is different from the old system when politicians regularly used to win with 15, 20% of the vote. So is there anything people need to do differently when they go to vote on their ballot specifically? Well, it'll look a little bit different. I'm dressed as a ballot for Halloween, as you noticed. So you have a grid to fill in, first choice, second choice, third choice. So that's a little bit different. It looks visually different. So that's why we have educators at most polling places today to make sure voters aren't surprised by this format. But of course, it's just bubbling in like we do in a standardized test at school, first choice, second choice. That's pretty easy. The distinctive feature this time, like you already alluded to, is that in D.C., we fill Council seats at once, these at-large council seats, and in the old system voters used to have two votes in one box on the ballot. It caused a lot of confusion, thousands and thousands of voters always you know, only used one vote, they didn't understand that they had two, so now we're using the same ranked choice system as we use for every other race, except that it'll count the last two. Candidates standing and fill those two seats simultaneously on the council. So it's a little more straightforward. The ballot experience is now consistent across all the races for the voter. Interesting. Okay. So when it comes to the at-large council seats, those are two seats that are up for grabs. Some of the other seats are just a single seat. What happens if, say, somebody only fills in ballot or section number one? You know, that's their favorite candidate. They don't fill in for the backup choices. What happens then? Or vice versa, you know? You know, they do put that in there, but they're first. candidate their first choice gets knocked out. What does that look like? you can rank just that one candidate on the ballot. That's totally fine too, right? right then your vote will be reallocated to your second choice You know, the coalition of more than 50% of voters to be elected. You know, again, if you rank only one candidate, that's fine. Maybe your vote won't go as far because it won't be reallocated in a second round if your favorite doesn't win. But, of course, you know, again, maybe you only like one candidate. That's totally defensible, too. This system just allows voters who have more preferences to express them. You know, in D.C., we often have 10, 12, 15 candidates running for an office. And a lot of voters have said, it's so hard to choose one. I'm often playing sort of mind games with myself. You know, which candidate is the most electable? I don't want to, you know, throw my vote away. This system resolves all of that, right? Voters get to vote their conscience, vote their values. They can express this nuance because voters are actually pretty sophisticated in how they approach going to the polls. Yeah, we're not the only place in the country that's starting to use this ranked choice voting. I know some of the other places, including Alaska, a big race, some recent conversation happening there out on the West Coast. Some common misconceptions you hear from people when it comes to ranked choice voting that you want to clear up. Sure, sure, sure. It's true. I mean, big cities, New York, San Francisco, Boston's about to start using it, you know, and states Maine, Alaska, like you said, and even some of our neighbors, Arlington, Charlottesville, Tacoma Park right here next door uses ranked choice voting. So it is catching on. Voters like to have more control in that way. I mean, you know, the thing that we come up against, of course, is just that it is a change. And you know, people feel sometimes very protective of their right to vote. And we understand why, right? I mean, historically that's true, and nowadays there are also assaults on people's freedom to vote and access the ballot box. So we are very careful to go and say, this is not... This is not a change, you know, that threatens anything, right? It's a way of giving you more control as a voter. And it makes politicians work harder, you know. I've also been a candidate for office in a ranked choice system. And it forces politicians to speak to more voters. You want to build that 50% majority. You want to earn a lot of, yes, first choice votes, but also second and third choice votes. So politicians are forced to encounter more people, talk to more voters, right, and broaden the base of... Who they're hearing. So it really does have beautiful effects. But of course, it's a transition. And that's why we exist, to help voters through that. Absolutely. And I know you guys are going to be out at the polls answering folks' questions. But before they head out, if they want to as well, where can they go to find more information? Rankthedistrict.org. That's our website. We have sample ballots for all the different wards. There are several ANC races in D.C. that have three or more candidates. So they have a ranked ballot. So you can sort of explore all that in advance before you go to the polling place again. So you know visually what's going to be on your touch screen. Thank you for joining us this morning and for helping to clear up some confusion some of those folks at home may have as well.