Arlington could use ranked choice voting in next year’s primaries, ARLnow reported yesterday.
From our article:
The system, also known as “instant runoff,” prompts voters to rank candidates and a winner is selected over the course of many elimination rounds.
The Board could vote in November to introduce ranked-choice voting (RCV) during the primaries next June. […]
The survey of voter preferences went live yesterday (Wednesday). From now until Nov. 4, locals can share any comments and questions they have about RCV, whether they’ve voted that way before and — on a scale of “very unfavorably” to “very favorably” — how they view it.
The county may be surveying residents, but we also wanted to gauge reader opinions on ranked choice voting, which some see as a way to encourage more candidate diversity while minimizing the chance that a fringe candidate wins due to other candidates splitting the vote.
RCV is also being recommended by a citizen task force that was charged with recommending ways to improve Arlington politics.
Opponents say ranked choice is confusing to voters, produces results similar to standard plurality voting, and is inferior to conducting an actual runoff election between the top vote-getting candidates.
What do you think?