Vote-by-mail is better with ranked choice voting

Seamus Allen | 

Executive summary

  • “Vote-by-mail” systems allow voters to receive ballots at their homes, and return them at polling places and ballot drop boxes, or via mail. 
  • When candidates drop out close to Election Day, as frequently occurs in primary elections, millions of vote-by-mail voters’ voices can wind up unheard. Ranked choice voting (RCV) solves this problem by allowing voters’ ballots to be counted for their highest-ranked candidate still in the race.
  • Vote-by-mail systems allow voters more time to consider their options, and RCV allows voters to express nuanced and honest preferences between those options. 

RCV solves the dropout problem

Vote-by-mail systems make voting more accessible by allowing people to cast their votes securely from the comfort of their homes. Rather than face long lines at polling places or be forced to take time off of work, voters can sit down with their ballots whenever it is convenient for them. Right now, eight states (home to 66 million people) conduct fully vote-by-mail elections in this way.

For voting by mail to work, ballots must be printed and delivered to voters well ahead of the date of the election, and voters should be able to return their ballot ahead of the election as well.

This creates a significant problem: Voters may receive ballots with the names of candidates who are no longer in the race and vote for their favorite not realizing that candidate is no longer an option. Even worse, candidates often drop out of races after voters have begun returning their ballots, leaving the voter stuck with an invalid vote and an unheard voice. 

RCV easily solves this problem: When a voter is allowed to rank the candidates, their ballot can simply be counted for their next-highest choice – the candidate the voter would have chosen if they had known their favorite would drop out.

This dropout problem is not an edge-case scenario and happens particularly frequently in primary elections. In the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, over three million votes were wasted because they were cast for a candidate who had dropped out – meaning the voices of one out of every twelve primary voters went unheard!

Together, vote-by-mail systems and RCV give us real choices to consider

One of the greatest strengths of voting by mail is the opportunity it gives voters to research and consider their options. Speaking from personal experience, when I get my ballot in the mail (I live in Washington State), I sit down to research the candidates and issues before I vote.

Yet despite the time voting by mail gives me to research and consider, I often end up voting in much the same way I would have without it – for a frontrunner, and/or down the party line. After all, you usually find the same two cookie-cutter party platforms in every race. 

There is untapped potential in vote-by-mail systems to empower and educate us, but in order to unlock it we need real choices. RCV empowers us to consider all of the candidates, not just the “lesser of two evils.” If in your research you find yourself most aligned with a low-poller, you can confidently cast your ballot for that candidate, knowing your vote can count for a backup choice.

FairVote’s gold standard, proportional ranked choice voting, would take our choices even further. Multiple seats would be up for grabs in any legislative election, fostering a true diversity of platforms from Democratic and Republican competitors appealing to different parts of their parties – complemented by viable third-party candidates. 

We could then use the time and space that vote-by-mail ballots provide to make a nuanced choice. Unpopular incumbents in safe seats could be held accountable, and voters could push candidates to have a vision deeper than just a party platform.

The bottom line

RCV solves the weaknesses of voting by mail and enhances its strengths. Voting by mail enables us to develop nuanced and informed opinions. RCV enables us to express them – and to be sure they’re counted.

This is the second post in FairVote’s #PutRCVOnIt series, where we examine how RCV works in conjunction with, and improves, other election reforms. We acknowledge that there are many ideas for improving American democracy, but also that no reform is a silver bullet. We explain why RCV is a key piece of the puzzle, and how it fits in with other pieces.