Tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters are at risk of having no say in the state’s Democratic primary for governor on August 11. Three candidates – Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes – dropped out of the race after ballots had been printed and early voting had begun. A fourth candidate – David Crowley – reentered the race after previously suspending his campaign.

These shakeups came after tens of thousands of absentee voters had already returned their ballots; by the time Barnes dropped out on July 30, nearly 120,000 votes had already been cast. Voters who selected Barnes – or Rodriguez or Hughes – have no way to change their vote to count for one of the remaining candidates. Ranked choice voting (RCV) lets voters mark a backup choice – solving this problem and making more votes count. 

“Zombie” votes – votes cast for candidates who withdraw from a race before Election Day – are a widespread problem. In the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, more than 3 million people cast votes for candidates who had withdrawn from the race. Republicans have experienced a similar problem in their presidential primaries – impacting 700,000 Republicans in 2016 and 300,000 in 2024.

With ranked choice voting, voters need not worry about reading the tea leaves in a shifting field; if their first choice drops out, their vote counts for their next choice. This ensures every voter has a say in the election, no matter when they vote.

One reason candidates may drop out of primaries is to avoid splitting the vote with similar candidates. For example, when Hughes dropped out in the Wisconsin gubernatorial election, she spoke of the need to  “coalesce around” Rodriguez. Before Barnes dropped out of the race amid scandal, there was concern that he and Crowley might split ideologically similar voters.  

Ranked choice voting solves the vote-splitting problem as well. If a candidate doesn’t have a chance to win, they are eliminated; voters who ranked them first have their votes count for their next choice. This allows more candidates to  stay in the race, giving voters more choice at the ballot box.

Wisconsin leaders have already shown support for ranked choice voting . Earlier this year, State Senator Mark Spreitzer and Representative Clinton Anderson introduced legislation to bring RCV to Wisconsin elections. Spreitzer and Anderson pointed to majority winners, more candidate choice, and issue-focused campaigning as compelling reasons to improve Wisconsin elections with RCV.

To learn more about RCV in the Badger State, visit Voters First Wisconsin. To help bring RCV to your community, find an RCV group near you!