Australian election will use ranked choice voting nationwide

Post-election update: In the 2025 Australian election, the Labor Party expanded its majority in the House of Representatives, with strong first- and second-choice support from voters. Independent candidates continued to do well, just as they did in the 2022 election.

In the Australian election on Saturday, May 3, voters will use ranked choice voting (RCV) to elect their members of Parliament. For over one hundred years, RCV has contributed to fair representation, political stability, and responsive governance in Australia. This week’s elections serve as a reminder that the United States has real options for improving its own democracy. 

Australia uses single-winner RCV to elect its House, and the proportional form of RCV to elect its Senate. Voters can rank startup or longshot candidates first, and then rank a major party candidate as a backup choice. This allows minor-party and independent candidates to run without being dismissed as “spoilers,” as they often are in the United States. In fact, the last Australian federal election saw a wave of success for centrist, climate-focused “teal independents,” a result made possible by this dynamic. 

Instead of seeing minor parties as spoilers, major parties have an incentive to reach out to their voters and ask to be their second or third choice. This has encouraged electoral and legislative coalitions between parties. For example, there is a long-running coalition between the conservative Liberal and National parties, and a more recent coalition between the progressive Labor and Green parties. 

The result is that instead of polarizing against each other, parties have reason to find common ground. According to political scientists, RCV is one reason that polarization is much lower in Australia than in the United States, despite the two countries being similar in many ways. 

RCV also empowers minority voters, because candidates are incentivized to engage with communities beyond their base. That’s exactly what is happening in this election; in the Bradfield and Bennelong House districts, candidates are actively courting Chinese-Australian voters. 

Proportional RCV delivers the benefits of single-winner RCV, and then some. Proportional RCV means candidates and parties are elected in proportion to their share of the vote. For example, if two-thirds of voters vote for a conservative candidate, about two-thirds of seats go to conservatives. Individual candidates can win by clearing a threshold of about 15%, delivering both majority rule and minority voice, and resulting in minor-party and independent candidates regularly winning seats. 

Proportional RCV also means a more representative legislature and more policy stability. Small shifts in the electorate do not translate to wild shifts in policy. Contrast this with the United States, where a few points’ shift in the national popular vote can lead the country down wildly different paths. 

The Australian experience with election reform is proof that better voting systems are not only possible, but that they are already working elsewhere. When voters have more choices, democracy works better. RCV is a practical and proven way to give voters those choices, and to build a more representative government here at home.