{"id":349,"date":"2020-10-23T19:03:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T19:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/my-backyard-local-news-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-ballot-question\/"},"modified":"2020-10-23T19:03:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T19:03:30","slug":"my-backyard-local-news-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-ballot-question","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/my-backyard-local-news-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-ballot-question\/","title":{"rendered":"My Backyard Local News: \u201cRanked Choice Voting\u201d Massachusetts Ballot Question"},"template":"","class_list":["post-349","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-news-clip"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"","featured_image":"","press_type":155,"authors":null,"related_issues":[109,462],"related_work":false,"location":24},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"
\r\n\r\nBOSTON \u2014 <\/strong>At this election, Massachusetts will consider ranked-choice voting starting in 2022.\r\n\r\nIf it\u2019s approved,\u00a0Question 2<\/a>\u00a0would mean that voters rank the candidates in order of preference. If no one gets a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and their voters\u2019 second choices would be redistributed until a candidate in the race gets the support of 50% plus one.\r\n\r\nKristina Mensik, assistant director of\u00a0Common Cause Massachusetts<\/a>, said this system would reduce the \u201cspoiler effect\u201d so people can vote for a third party without handing the election to the candidate they dislike.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt reduces the kind of trade-off considerations that voters make,\u201d she said. \u201cRather than supporting their true favorite candidate, they feel they have to support a candidate who has a better chance.\u201d\r\n\r\nOpponents have said ranked-choice voting is too complicated, and noted that it eliminates runoff elections, which denies voters a second chance to evaluate the top contenders. Mensik said the new system would ensure the winner has the broadest support, rather than the votes of the most fervent minority. She said ranked-choice voting favors more moderate \u2014 or less extreme \u2014 candidates and also discourages negative campaigning.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou have candidates who are competing not just for a first-place position,\u201d she said, \u201cbut also working to be somebody\u2019s second- or third-choice candidate.\u201d\r\n\r\nRanked-choice voting is used now in municipal elections in Cambridge and in dozens of other cities across the country. This year, Maine is the first state to use it in a presidential election.\r\n\r\nMore information about Question 2 is online at\r\n\r\nvoterchoice2020.org\/ballot-text\/<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Download Article<\/a> "}}]},"yoast_head":"\nMy Backyard Local News: \u201cRanked Choice Voting\u201d Massachusetts Ballot Question - Common Cause Massachusetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/my-backyard-local-news-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-ballot-question\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Backyard Local News: \u201cRanked Choice Voting\u201d Massachusetts Ballot Question\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/my-backyard-local-news-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-ballot-question\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/my-backyard-local-news-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-ballot-question\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press-releases\/my-backyard-local-news-ranked-choice-voting-massachusetts-ballot-question\/\",\"name\":\"My Backyard Local News: \u201cRanked Choice Voting\u201d Massachusetts Ballot Question - 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