Yesterday Santa Fe (New Mexico) held its first ranked-choice election for mayor. Out of five candidates, Alan Webber won on the fourth round.
In ranked-choice voting, you rank your choices, in this case from #1 to #5.
I liked the effect this had on a number of things about the campaign.
- I put more thought into all of the candidates, rather than just choosing one and ignoring the others.
- Campaigners said “If you don’t want to vote for our candidate first, please consider voting for them second.” This is both a good tactic and a more civil conversation.
- Reporters complained that it took more time to get results. But it seemed to me that the message was that every vote counts, when the counting had to go to a fourth round.
- The winner has a clear majority, not the 39% that the first round gave Webber.
- We don’t have the additional time and expense of a runoff election.
The city and the Santa Fe New Mexican did a great job of educating voters, starting a month or more before the election.
I like it.