Maryland primaries need ranked choice voting
Yesterday’s Maryland primaries saw several “plurality winners.” Multiple congressional nominees will compete in the general election with a minority of support from their own party. Ranked choice voting (RCV) would have helped Democrats and Republicans advance strong nominees, increased the quality of campaigns, and given general election voters better choices.
A “plurality winner” is a candidate who wins a race with less than 50% of votes. This is a common occurrence in crowded primaries. When votes are split between many candidates, the candidate with “the most votes” can win with a small share of votes. In fact, candidates won without majority support in 120 congressional and statewide primaries in 2022, five of which were in Maryland. Most states, including Maryland, don’t have a mechanism to prevent this from happening.
3rd Congressional District
The 3rd District was vacated by Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes, inviting crowded fields on both sides of the aisle. 22 candidates competed in the Democratic primary. State Sen. Sarah Elfreth won with just 35% of the vote, meaning 65% of voters preferred a different candidate. Moreover, the 3rd District is safely Democratic, meaning Elfreth will have an easy victory come November. Essentially, this seat was chosen by a fraction of a fraction of voters.
The Republican primary featured only nine candidates, and the result was even more unrepresentative than the Democratic primary. Attorney Robert Steinberger won with just 25% of the vote, meaning 75% of voters preferred a different candidate.
6th Congressional District
The 6th District is Maryland’s only competitive congressional district. It’s also an open seat, since current Rep. David Trone retired to run for U.S. Senate. 16 candidates ran in the Democratic primary, and former Biden administration official April McClain Delaney won with 39% of votes, meaning a clear majority actually voted against her. Neil Parrott won the seven-way Republican contest with 47% of the vote – also a minority of support.
A solution for Maryland primaries: ranked choice voting
Voters across Maryland were flooded with choices yesterday – which wouldn’t have caused problems if not for single-choice voting. The method often results in plurality winners, hurting parties and democracy alike. In competitive districts like Maryland’s 6th, parties are sending potentially weak candidates to otherwise winnable general elections. Research shows that plurality primary winners tend to perform worse in general elections than candidates who win their primaries with a majority.
Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank the candidates in order of preference to produce a majority-supported winner. This ensures that more voters feel invested in the nominee, setting the nominee up for success in the general election.
Moreover, single-choice elections often become highly negative because candidates can win with a narrow base instead of campaigning to a wide audience. This dynamic could influence the 6th District contest, where “Democrats have raised worries that negative ads will damage the victor, who will face one of the most competitive general election races in the state.” Research shows that RCV can make campaigns more civil, reducing the number of toxic attack ads we have to watch every election cycle.
RCV is already used locally in Takoma Park, MD – and neighboring Washington, DC will likely vote on an RCV ballot measure in November. To support the RCV movement in Maryland, check out Ranked Choice Voting Maryland today!
Image from High Limitzz under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
