Michigan needs ranked choice voting for its presidential election
Momentum for ranked choice voting (RCV) continues to grow in Michigan. Earlier this month, activist Katie Fahey and FairVote’s David Daley made the case for RCV in two major Michigan media outlets. This comes after voters in three Michigan cities approved RCV for local elections in November 2023.
On April 10, Fahey and Daley published an op-ed in The Detroit News discussing how RCV would address the “spoiler problem” in the critical battleground state’s 2024 presidential race. The piece was published just days before potential presidential “spoiler” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. qualified for the ballot in the state.
A recent CNN poll found Kennedy polling at 18% in Michigan. This sets the stage for a possible repeat of the 2016 presidential election, where Donald Trump beat Hilary Clinton by barely 10,000 votes, but third-party candidates won some 250,000 votes.
But as Daley and Fahey writes, RCV would ensure the winner of the state’s electoral votes has support from a majority of Michiganders, while giving voters more choice:
Ranked choice voting is a common-sense, nonpartisan solution that would put a permanent end to the ‘spoiler effect’… Independent voters wouldn’t need to study the polls or settle for the ‘lesser of two evils.’ And everyone would know that the candidate who wins Michigan is preferred by a majority, rather than a small plurality.
Following publication of the op-ed, Fahey joined Detroit’s NPR station, WDET, to discuss how RCV can improve elections at all levels in Michigan. In her conversation with The Metro co-hosts Tia Graham and Nick Austin, Fahey highlighted why many Michiganders and voters across America are interested in RCV:
They are sick of being told they have to choose the ‘lesser of two evils.’ They want real change in our political system. They want candidates who are willing to step outside of party lines and actually listen to voters. And if Michigan were to adopt [RCV], I think that’s more of what we would see.
Fahey also pointed to the impact RCV has had on representation and campaign civility:
What you see in other places that have adopted ranked choice voting is voters are happier. They feel more represented. They feel like they can vote their conscience… You also see, actually, that you get more women and more minorities who end up getting elected, because they aren’t splitting the vote if there’s multiple candidates from a certain community.
Listen to Fahey’s full interview here on WDET, and read Fahey and Daley’s op-ed in The Detroit News. To support RCV in Michigan, visit Rank MI Vote today!
