Milwaukee and Louisiana local elections make the case for RCV
Another slew of local elections, this time in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin and Louisiana, make the case for ranked choice voting (RCV).
On May 2, Milwaukee County (Wisconsin’s largest) held a special election to fill a vacant County Supervisor post in District 14. The top two candidates, former member of the Milwaukee Common Council Angel Sanchez and Milwaukee Board of Health president Caroline Gómez-Tom, faced off after advancing from the April 4 primary election.
The May 2 election saw just 6% turnout, and a 75% decrease in turnout from the primary election. Gómez-Tom won the election with 587 votes, significantly down from her 1,348 votes in the primary. In other words, the seat was decided in a low-turnout election by a fraction of voters who initially weighed in in the primary.
Down south, several Louisiana municipalities recently held runoff elections. On April 29, Jimmy Inman and Cody Ludwig faced off for the District D Seat on the Covington City Council after winning 40% and 39% of votes respectively in the initial March election. Inman came out on top with 61% of votes.
Meanwhile in East Baton Rouge, Jordan Faircloth and Louise Hines Myers competed in a runoff for District Judge after winning 34% and 16% in the initial election, meaning half of voters did not see their favorite candidate on the runoff ballot. Myers won the runoff with 58% of votes, but the runoff overall saw a slight drop in turnout (about 600 votes). Another two hopeful judges competed in the runoff for Criminal District Court in New Orleans. Simone Levine just edged out Leon Roche with 51% of votes.
In March, Louisiana held a runoff election for the state representative in the 93rd district. The seat was left vacant by Royce Duplessis, who won a special election for the State Senate in November. Alonzo Knox beat Sibil “Fox” Richardson in the runoff, 54% to 46%.
Many localities hold their elections in odd-numbered years, meaning most voters have to go to the polls several times every year, with special elections on top of that. We are asking too much of voters. As a result, we often see turnout dropoff between rounds, like in Milwaukee and East Baton Rouge.
Milwaukee and Louisiana could lighten the load by adopting ranked choice voting. RCV identifies a majority winner with just one election. Voters can rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate has a majority of votes, the “runoff” is held instantly. The candidate(s) with the least votes are eliminated. If you voted for that candidate, your vote counts towards your next choice.
Dozens of cities have implemented RCV as a substitute for runoffs. RCV only asks voters to come to the polls once, and decides winners at the election where turnout is naturally the highest.
RCV also saves taxpayers the cost of holding additional runoffs. In Louisiana, it costs between $1,500 and $2,000 per precinct to administer an election. Scaled to New Orleans that’s between $526,000 and $702,000, and for a statewide runoff nearly $8 million.
The recent runoffs in Milwaukee and Louisiana follow those in Chicago, Denver, and Philadelphia in making the clear case for RCV – a better, cheaper, faster way of holding elections.
