We are using nationally ranked voting for the presidential election.

Imagine election night in 2024. Several close battleground states will decide the presidency and test the health of our democracy. In that scenario, we can be sure of two facts: neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump will win a majority of votes, and votes for independent and third-party candidates will dwarf the final difference. It will become.

Dissatisfied voters defected to insurgents like John Anderson in 1980, Ross Perot in 1992, Ralph Nader in 2000, and Jill Stein and Gary Johnson in 2016. It is customary to do so. Robert Kennedy's vote share will be in double digits, and Libertarians, Greens, and Cornel West will make an appearance. Entire shadow campaigns are emerging on the ballots in many states. Democrats are spending millions of dollars on these candidates, but Republicans are watching to see if they can repeat their 2016 strategy. That strategy saw Trump flip the decisive states of Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin with an average vote share of less than 48%.

American politics already has a proven solution to the “spoiler” problem. It's a ranked vote. In Australia, there are on average more than five candidates in an RCV election without any 'spoilers'. Maine and Alaska already plan to use RCV for this year's presidential elections. If every state had an RCV, there would be no need to worry about third-party candidates tipping the state, and by extension, the White House, against the will of the people.

Instead of presenting a single choice, RCV voters rank candidates first, second, and so on. If the first candidate secures more than half and no one wins, subsequent candidates are eliminated and their votes are counted for the next candidate. A final “instant runoff” between the top two candidates ensures representative results without the costs and burdens of a December runoff.

Alaska adopted RCV in the 2020 presidential election, and Maine adopted RCV after legislative action in 2019. But why haven't 48 states, especially the seven swing states that will decide this November's elections, passed RCV? Why is it a collective decision by voters unwilling to settle for the “lesser of two evils”? But is it a bigger wild card than Trump's criminal trial or Biden's age?

Change is certainly happening. Fifty US cities and hundreds of NGOs use RCV, and exit polls generally strongly support RCV. RCV has won 27 consecutive city votes, and four states and D.C. will likely vote on his RCV adoption statewide this November. It's a hint for “Jeopardy!” And even national crossword puzzles.

Several proven approaches can help scale RCV more quickly: Perfection is an illusion, but we shouldn't settle for less. Voters of all backgrounds cast ballots easily every day, and every jurisdiction should use well-designed ballots and tested voter education models to ensure they can do so in RCV elections. RCV results should be as fast, transparent, and auditable as non-RCV results. States should purchase voting equipment that makes using RCV as easy as flipping a switch.

This change is coming. Many cities are releasing provisional RCV tallies on election night and embracing best practices around transparency, audits, and timely data release. Now that all modern voting equipment can run RCV elections (a major concern for cities considering RCV in the 1990s and 2000s), policymakers are aligning standards to allow vendors to offer RCV as the default option. More jurisdictions are investing in better ballot design, intuitive results display, and voter education.

Focusing on the battleground states that decide the White House could effectively end the presidential spoiler problem by 2028. RCV is already on the ballot in Nevada this November, and there are active movements for change in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Americans are fundamentally restless about their ballot choices, so we can't hope that the spoiler problem will go away. It's time to make RCV nationally responsive to voter choice and reward leaders who seek to represent the majority of Americans.

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