Last month, former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan ended his independent campaign for Michigan governor. Announcing his decision, he said:

I got into this race to try to change our politics, not to be a spoiler… We knew the independent route was filled with challenges.

While the number of Americans who identify as independent has reached a record-high of 45%, the share of independent elected officials hasn’t followed suit. So – what are the challenges Duggan referred to, and why don’t more independents run for office?

In choose-one elections, independents are often discouraged from running because they may “take votes away” from major-party candidates with similar views. With ranked choice voting (RCV), more independent candidates can run without that risk – giving voters more choices on their ballots, and the power to actually take advantage of those choices.

What is the spoiler problem in elections?

Independent candidates are often accused of being “spoilers” for more viable candidates. That’s because in choose-one races, candidates do not need support from a majority of voters to win.

If an independent candidate is ideologically aligned with a major-party candidate, the independent and major-party candidate could split the vote and help a candidate with opposing views win. For example, if the candidates are a liberal Democrat, conservative Republican, and conservative independent, the two conservatives could receive 30% of the vote each, allowing the Democrat to win with just 40% of the vote.

Voters, candidates, and parties all know this could happen, so major parties frequently pressure voters not to “waste” their vote on a longshot independent. Voters, in turn, feel like they need to pick the “lesser of two evils” – which often means voting for a major-party candidate over an independent they actually prefer.

Potential independent candidates may choose not to run at all to avoid spoiling the race. Candidates who do run, like Mike Duggan, may drop out if they determine the risk of being a spoiler is too high.

How does ranked choice voting solve the spoiler problem?

With ranked choice voting, voters don’t need to worry about spoilers, or feel forced to vote for the lesser of two evils.

Voters can simply rank candidates in order of preference. If their first choice can’t win, their vote automatically counts for their next choice instead. This frees voters from worrying about how others will vote, and which candidates are more or less likely to win.

If an independent candidate like Duggan runs in an RCV race, they won’t spoil the race for an ideologically similar candidate. Voters will be free to vote their conscience, and know that their vote will help a candidate they like – rather than help spring their least favorite candidate into office.

Ranked choice voting gives voters more choice, and lets more independents run for office without fear. To support RCV where you live, join an RCV group in your state today.