Vote YES on Question 2 this November for Ranked Choice Voting in Massachusetts!
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is a commonsense electoral change that will allow voters to rank candidates for office in the order they prefer them. This simple change will ensure our representatives have majority support, expand voter choice, encourage greater diversity among candidates, and reduce negative campaigning.
Common Cause Massachusetts has been a longtime advocate of Ranked Choice Voting, and we are excited voters can finally bring it to our state by voting YES on Question 2 this November!
THE PROBLEM
Crowded primaries in Massachusetts continually produce undemocratic results:
- Voters are forced to vote strategically for a candidate who is most likely to win, rather than voting for their real choice and risk helping a candidate they like least.
- Candidates feel pressure to drop out to avoid being a “spoiler,” in turn limiting voters’ options.
- Candidates routinely win with less than a majority — sometimes as little as 20% of the vote.
- Entire communities are ignored. Candidates work to capture just enough votes, so they win without working towards consensus. Along the way, they often resort to negative campaigning to edge out the opposition.
THE SOLUTION
Ranked Choice Voting would give voters more voice, more choice, and better representation.
Here’s how it works: Instead of only being able to choose one candidate, voters can rank all (or just some) of the candidates in order of their preference. Like always, a candidate who secures a majority of first-choice votes wins. If there’s no majority, however, then the last place candidate will be eliminated and the votes of their supporters will be reallocated to those voters second-choice candidate. The process is repeated until there’s a majority winner.
We will all benefit from this simple change. It will:
- Elect leaders with the broadest support. Eliminating the “spoiler effect” will ensure candidates cannot win by only appealing to their narrow base. They’ll need majority support in the community.
- Diversify candidate pool and increase voter choices. Candidates won’t feel pressure to drop out to avoid being a spoiler, and voters don’t have to choose between a “safe” vote for a front runner or a principled vote for a preferred candidate who is further down in the polls.
- Decrease negative campaigning. Since candidates are competing for second and third place votes as well as first place ones, they will be discouraged from attacking their opponents. They have to appeal to a broad base and find common ground across all voters.
TAKE ACTION
Volunteer for this election’s Yes On 2 Ranked Choice Voting campaign: https://www.yeson2rcv.com/volunteer/