Low-turnout Louisiana runoff elections should be replaced with ranked choice voting
On Saturday, Louisiana held its local runoff elections. As usual, voter turnout declined dramatically from the general election held a month earlier. Ranked choice voting (RCV) would have allowed runoffs to take place instantly on Election Day – saving Louisianans time and money, while ensuring elections are decided when the most voters participate.
Louisiana holds runoff elections when no candidate earns a majority of votes. This happened in many municipal and parish elections across the state in November. As a result, voters were asked to return to the polls on Saturday – but most stayed home instead. The table below shows how turnout declined in some of the most notable races.
In the most discussed race, Emile “Sid” Edwards won the runoff to be Mayor-President of Baton Rouge, executive of the state’s second-largest city, with fewer votes (57,308) than he received in November (64,862). In fact, the same is true for the winners of every race above. This is the second set of Louisiana runoffs this year that have experienced this problem – Louisiana’s primary runoff elections in April also saw turnout plummet.
Local elections have a major impact on daily life, but fewer people tend to vote in them than in federal or state elections. Delayed runoffs exacerbate this problem, especially when no federal or state elections go to runoffs that could keep turnout higher. Dozens of municipalities around the country have solved this turnout decline problem by using ranked choice voting, also known as instant runoff voting.
RCV allows voters to rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority of first choices, an instant runoff is triggered. Voters only have to show up once, and taxpayers only have to fund one election.
Some Louisiana voters already use RCV. Military and overseas voters use a ranked ballot, and their ranked preferences are used in the event of a runoff. If their first choice doesn’t advance to the runoff, their vote simply counts for their highest-ranked candidate who does. RCV ensures these voters can participate in the runoff despite the quick turnaround time after the general election.
Unfortunately, Louisiana’s legislature prohibited RCV last year (albeit without touching its use by military voters – the only voters in the state who actually use it). The legislature should reverse that ban and let all Louisiana voters use this cheaper, better, and faster way of voting.
