Ranked Choice Voting?

Ranked Choice Voting has gained currency in blue jurisdictions in the Puget Sound; Seattle voted in 2022 to use RCV. It has earned a reputation as a “good government” Democratic idea, both a capital “D” and small “d” democratic.

Reality is not quite that simple. Early adopters are Alaska and Maine, with Oregon and Nevada voting in the next year or so, joining Cambridge, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Minneapolis, and St Paul.

The concept is that you, as the voter, may use your ballot to mark your second, third, and first choices. If your first-choice candidate falters, your vote is transferred to your second choice, and so forth.

Katie Haven, of Okanogan County/LD 7 and Kari Bull, of FairVote Washington discuss this topic with me here.

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Extra Credit: When Democrats don’t want to be democratic?

In 2022, the CD 4 primary results were:
 
Dan Newhouse 37,880 GOP
Doug White 37,339 Democrat
Loren Culp 32,163 GOP
Jerrod Sessler 18,226 GOP
Brad Klippert 15,232 GOP
Corey Gibson 5,018 GOP
Benny Garcia 2,122 GOP
Jacek Kobiesa 480 GOP

Democrat 37,339 
GOP 111,121 

Washington's first-two-past-the-post system allowed Doug White to contest the 2022 General Election in CD 4. 

Don Schwerin is the Chair of the Ag and Rural Caucus of the Washington State Democrats. He is a former State Committee Person for the Walla Walla County Democrats.