Ranked choice voting is an option

Given the low turnout during the primary election and now the general election maybe Washington state should consider an alternative system of voting such as the ranked choice system that was just adopted in Maine.

Wikipedia informs me that it is known by a number of other names including instant run-off voting. If that is the case, maybe we could do away with the August primary which few people pay any attention to as it is. We could save the taxes now being wasted to get 34.88 percent of the voters to turnout which ended up with only 17 percent of the state’s eligible voters choosing one candidate for governor and fewer picking the other one. I have nothing against those two men, but I think it would be helpful to have a larger percent of voters being involved.

Nationwide eleven cities such as Cambridge, Massachusetts, Oakland, San Francisco, San Leandro, California, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota use ranked choice voting to pick their officials. I understand that eight other cities have adopted ranked choice but have not fully put it to use. Five states use it for overseas voters, and the Republican Party uses ranked choice in Utah, and the Democratic Party use it in Texas. Australia, New Zealand, and other English-speaking countries use it as well.

Washington state can do better than what we are presently doing. Let’s join Maine and show the nation what leadership is all about.

This story was originally published November 26, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Ranked choice voting is an option."