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Voters in four states are being asked Tuesday if they’re ready to dive headlong into an election reform that Hawaii has only dipped its toes into so far.

Two other states have already made the switch, along with numerous cities and counties around the country. In those jurisdictions, voters can identify not only their favorite candidate but also their second and third choices and sometimes more.

“Ranked-choice voting is having a moment,” .

RCV kicks in when the top vote-getter receives less than 50% of total ballots cast in a race with three or more candidates. The least popular candidate is then dropped in a second tabulation, with his or her supporters’ votes going to whoever they identified as their second choice. The lowest-candidate-out process continues until someone exceeds the 50% threshold.

A Boost For Third-Party Candidates

Consider how that could play out in the presidential election. There are six candidates on the ballot in Hawaii, and in reality Democrat Kamala Harris is likely to exceed 50%. But in a closer race against Republican Donald Trump, it’s possible neither major party candidate would get half the vote.

The biggest vote-getter among third-party candidates is likely to be Green Party nominee Jill Stein. If RCV was in use, some of Stein’s supporters would have made Harris or Trump their second choice. Once Stein is eliminated, their votes still have consequence.

Ta da! Voters might be more likely to support third-party candidates if they can also indicate their second preference. They haven’t “wasted” their vote and it becomes more difficult to dismiss third-party candidates as “spoilers.”

That’s exactly the opportunity offered to voters Tuesday in Alaska and Maine, the two states that currently employ RCV for presidential and congressional races (Alaska also uses it for state legislative races).

Supporters of RCV . For one, it guarantees that any elected official will ultimately be chosen by a majority of voters.

Second, it discourages the type of extremism that has become so prevalent in today’s polarized politics. If there are three or more candidates, those who really want to win will need to cater to more than their base to gain the broadest popular support.

A of American cities where RCV is used found that “candidates seem to be more likely to engage each other.”

Can Voters Handle It?

RCV is not universally popular. Indeed, several states in the South have outright banned its use. Missouri voters face Tuesday that would prohibit RCV even though it’s never been used in the state.

And Alaska, one of the two pioneers in statewide use of RCV, has a measure on the ballot to . 

“It’s convoluted. It’s complex. It’s confusing to people,” said former Alaska Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, a Republican pushing for repeal.

But RCV supporters point to the low error rate on 2022 Alaska ballots as proof that the system isn’t difficult.

The opposition to RCV, which seems to emanate from Republican strongholds, hasn’t stopped Oregon from asking voters Tuesday to approve its use in both primaries and general elections. In three other states, Colorado, Idaho and Nevada, there are ballot measures to convert to RCV in general elections and open primaries earlier in the election cycle.

Many proponents of election reform value some form of open primaries as even more important than conversion to RCV.

“The core problem in our politics right now is that the vast majority of elections are decided in low-turnout party primaries,” Nick Troiano, executive director of , told The Washington Post.

Amen. And that’s especially true in states like Hawaii that are dominated by a single party.

All candidates for a particular office should be on everyone’s primary ballot, regardless of party affiliation. We’ve argued that the top two should then advance to the general election so that a final decision can be made by what is always a bigger chunk of the electorate.

But if reformers wanted to advance the top three or four candidates to the general election and then use RCV, hey, the more the merrier.

Baby Steps In Hawaii

As of 2022, RCV is a thing in Hawaii, but it would only be used for special federal and county elections involving three or more candidates. Approved by the Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. David Ige, hasn’t come into play yet, but it’s worth reading.

“The current plurality voting method in special elections allows a candidate to win an election without a majority of votes when there are more than two candidates for the office,” states the bill introduced by Sen. Karl Rhoads. “In elections with many candidates, the plurality method may result in winners who received small percentages of votes and who are not widely supported by voters.”

“Ranked-choice voting has been used effectively in the United States and around the world,” the bill states, then adds, “the State’s voting systems, including optical scanners, can process ranked-choice voting with little or no difficulty.”

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It’s almost enough to make you wonder why Rhoads didn’t propose that Hawaii make a full conversion to RCV. But, as you may have gleaned by now, reform happens slowly in the islands.

“I don’t personally have any plans to try to expand ranked-choice voting until we’ve actually run one in a special election here,” Rhoads said Friday. 

It hasn’t happened yet, but even this limited experiment could have consequences.

In 2010, Republican Charles Djou won a special federal election for the House of Representatives with only 39% of the vote after Colleen Hanabusa and Ed Case split the almost 60% Democratic vote between them.

The same year, a Honolulu City Council special election for a vacant seat saw tea party candidate Tom Berg win with just 18% of the vote in a 14-candidate field.

Ranked-choice voting and open primaries are only two of the election changes that merit renewed consideration during the next legislative session. There’s also the need for a for viable candidates and other campaign finance reforms.

This year’s Hawaii primary attracted the fewest candidates in a decade. Not surprisingly, the resulting voter turnout in August was the worst since statehood. 

It’s time for changes.