Doing Democracy: How Ranked-Choice Voting Has Changed Elections

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

San Francisco and Oakland were some of the first cities in the country to adopt ranked choice voting. It’s now a popular election reform that is being adopted across the country. Advocates say allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference on their ballots – instead of just picking one – gives them more say over who ends up in office and more freedom to vote for a longshot candidate without the feeling that they are wasting their vote. But the system can be complicated and confusing for many voters and has drawn ire from those unhappy with the election results. As part of Forum’s Doing Democracy series examining what democracy means and how it is practiced, we’ll talk about how experiments in ranked choice voting have changed our elections, voting behaviors and the candidates we bring into office. Guests: Eric Jaye, founder and president, Storefront Political Media Miles Parks, reporter covering voting and elections, NPR's Washington Desk Lisa Bryant, chair and associate professor, Department of Political Science, California State University Fresno Aaron Tiedemann, Albany city councilmember Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:52.8	San Francisco had already adopted ranked choice voting for local elections when I moved to town in 2004.
0:58.6	20 years and numerous elections later, the system has spread to many other cities around the Bay Area and nation.
1:04.6	But it's remained controversial.
1:06.6	Critics complain that voters don't understand how ranked choice voting works and have questioned the legitimacy of election winners.
1:13.1	In this hour of doing democracy, our series that examines what democracy means and how it's
1:17.6	practiced, we look at what ringed choice voting is, how it works, and why it continues to
1:22.4	spread despite complaints by some voters and candidates.
1:25.8	That's all coming up after this news.
1:37.9	Welcome to Forum. I'm Marisa Lagos and for Alexis Madrigal. Longtime barrier residents
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