My vote doesn’t really count anymore. And neither does yours. Over the years, two privately held organizations have gamed our elections and political system so they now have a stranglehold on our democracy. The only thing that matters to them is power — and the money required to keep it.
Of course, I’m talking about the Democratic and Republican parties. They choose their voters by gerrymandering district maps. They limit support to only candidates they can control. For years, they have altered election rules to their advantage. And they have exploited whale donors, lobbyists and special interest groups to keep themselves in office — and in power. Both parties do it.
I worked on Capitol Hill for a decade, and I believe most people in elected office and supporting roles are good people trying to do the right thing. So this isn’t a diatribe against one party or the other. It is an argument that the political system they run — and that you and I experience — is fundamentally broken. Our country is suffering because of it. You may have heard the saying: “The biggest lie in politics is that the system is broken.” Indeed: The system isn’t broken for elected officials and party operatives. It’s working exactly as they intended — to keep them in power and in money to retain that power.
But the system isn’t working for you and me. A Gallup poll in January suggests four out of five 5 Americans believe we are headed in the wrong direction. Yet, more than 90% of incumbent congressional candidates typically are reelected. How does this happen?
After an election season heavy on mudslinging and extremist rhetoric — with little insight on policy — you and I often end up in the voting booth choosing between the lesser of two evils. Any third-party candidate is seen as a “spoiler” and a wasted vote. We sigh and cast our vote for a candidate who has had to bend toward extremism to be competitive, and we worry our choice might not align with our values and views. Then we wonder why we don’t have better choices, and we hope things get better in the future.
Things can get better. There are better ways to run our elections and to choose our representatives. Here is a practical and pragmatic way to change how our political system works:
Let’s adopt ranked-choice voting, which sometimes is called instant-runoff voting. Instead of picking only one candidate, ranked-choice voting allows us to rank all candidates in order of our preference. If one candidate gets a majority (over 50%) of first-place votes, that candidate wins. If not, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and his or her votes are reallocated to the voters’ No. 2 choices. The process is repeated until a majority winner emerges. This way, every vote that you and I cast finally counts. And the winning candidate always has a majority of voter support.
The benefits are many. With ranked-choice voting, runoffs are eliminated. In 2018, South Carolina spent more than $800,000 in primary runoffs alone. And voter turnout usually falls, sometimes dramatically, in runoffs, so even fewer voters (usually older and more partisan) actually end up electing our representatives.
In addition to encouraging more competition, ranked-choice voting discourages negative campaigning, as candidates realize they should cast a wider, more inclusive net that appeals to more voters in hopes of being ranked second or third, if not first. As George Will said in his Feb. 18 column in The Post and Courier, ranked-choice voting “is a Madisonian reform, designed to encourage rule by majorities whose political temperatures do not skew toward fevers.”
Ranked-choice voting is a movement that is growing across the country and around the world. It is now being used in more than 43 jurisdictions in the United States and in dozens of other countries. To find out more about ranked-choice voting, check out these websites: BetterBallotSC.org, ForwardParty.com and FairVote.org. And then get involved.
Clint Eisenhauer was head of government affairs for Maersk Shipping in Washington for 10 years and then senior vice president of external affairs for the State Ports Authority for two years. He is retired and lives on James Island.
