this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2025
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Democratic activists are looking to overhaul the party’s presidential primary process with ranked-choice voting.

Proponents of the idea have privately met with Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and other leading party officials who want to see ranked-choice voting in action for 2028. Those behind the push include Representative Jamie Raskin, the nonprofit Fairvote Action, and Joe Biden pollster Celinda Lake. 

Axios reports that ranked-choice supporters told a DNC breakfast meeting in D.C. that they believe it would unify and strengthen the party, prevent votes from being “wasted” after candidates withdraw, and encourage candidates to build coalitions. The publication quotes DNC members as being divided on the issue, with some being open and others thinking that it is best left to state parties.

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[–] nosuchanon@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

This doesn’t fix the electoral college or the state electors corruption. It just changes how they’re gonna ignore peoples vote for the popular vote anyway.

[–] fodor@lemmy.zip 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I expect government corruption will continue, but this could have a positive effect in various areas. It's not like there's any perfect solution to eliminating corruption. So all you can do is try things that make it better in some ways.

[–] nosuchanon@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago

I agree. I am for RCV, but pretending that it is a solution to the broader problem is delusional.

The issue surrounding voting are well known: everything from IDs and voter registration, local polling stations, gerrymandering districts, voting during the week, purging voter roles, vote by mail, digital voting machine security, lack of paper trail etc. Not to mention campaign finance laws and citizens united and corruption.

None of that is addressed by switching to RCV.

Neat. You caught up to... alaska.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

Rather late than never.

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

IF they manage to get this through, they better use a big chunk of their compromise money to educate people about the new way of voting. Like carpet bomb the information.

[–] stormeuh@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Spend 10s of millions on TV ads on which consultants get a 15% fee, got it /s

[–] alt_xa_23@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

My state is currently in the process of banning RCV statewide :(

[–] MourningDove@lemmy.zip 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Fucking hilarious that people are still falling for this shit.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

The idea of ranked voting itself, you mean, or that people actually believe that the Democrats would actually do this?

Because the latter? Yeah, no, they'll hold it up as a shiny thing and drop it the second they get into power. This IS the USA, we don't improve, we stick to all our shitty systems that have failed us for decades, or centuries even.

The metric system is evil too, y'know! It's the devil!

[–] MourningDove@lemmy.zip 4 points 21 hours ago

That people believe the democrats would do this.

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Dems are the only party that's supported it, they've been working on getting it statewide in places that can, now they're bringing it to a national scope. And the only thing they have to gain is possibly being usurped by a third party for real. Sooo this is one of the perfect examples of the Democrats not being evil at all, actually being progressive at their core, albeit limp-wristed for the past few decades. They are not your enemy, they should be part of your tent if you want to grow it.

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Dems are the only non third-party that’s supported it

FTFY. Dems and repubs have historically teamed up to oppose RCV when third parties would benefit. Dems support it when it benefits them over republicans. Republicans can't benefit from it over dems.

[–] Cyberflunk@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago

ABOUT FUCKING TIME

[–] ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Neat, help us out ween out loser dems too.

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 2 points 23 hours ago

People think ranked choice, or any other alternative, will help do that. I hold out a sliver of hope that it would, but I don't trust the fucking idiot voters to actually inform themselves before casting their votes.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 132 points 2 days ago (13 children)

Could we also make it so primaries don’t take six months? I’ve never voted in a presidential primary where my vote affected the outcome at all because every state I’ve lived in was late in the schedule.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 48 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Then what is the media going to talk about for 6 months?

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 43 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Don’t get me started on the electoral-media complex that makes our elections too damn long.

If we’re making impossible demands on the system I’d also include 60 day election cycles. No political advertising or campaigning more than two months before the election.

But I’m a bad American who hates the GDP.

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[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 46 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (5 children)

Missouri tricked people into banning it by making it sound like they were banning non-citizens from casting multiple votes and the dumb dumbs who don’t read anything just voted for it.

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

  • Make the Constitution consistent with state law by only allowing citizens of the United States to vote;
  • Prohibit the ranking of candidates by limiting voters to a single vote per candidate or issue; and
  • Require the plurality winner of a political party primary to be the single candidate at a general election?

https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2024-11-05/missouri-amendment-7-ranked-choice-voting-noncitizen

MO GOP had a long history of getting illiterate voters to vote against themselves with shade language. Voters approved an anti-gerrymandering amendment but GOP put confusing language on the ballot, a year later, that tricked voters into cancelling that out.

A judge had to step in on the abortion ballot proposal because they tried to do it again. Thankfully, the judge made them out clear language on it. Unfortunately, they are trying it again with abortion next year.

https://www.kmbc.com/article/missouri-abortions-judge-approves-ballot-language/68915245

[–] lukaro@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Thats because republicans have absolutely no morals or shame.

I didn’t vote for it because I can read

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[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 71 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

I just want to point out that Ranked-Choice Voting was on the ballot in Colorado in 2024. It ultimately failed because it was opposed by both parties. I was surprised, because I talked through the issues with a friend who considered herself "very progressive" she mentioned she was against Ranked-Choice Voting because her Democratic Voting Guide recommended voting against it.

From https://tsscolorado.com/colorado-voters-easily-reject-ranked-choice-voting/

...it angered both Democratic and Republican party leaders and drew opposition from prominent Democratic backers, including a plethora of unions, progressive groups and some environmental organizations.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 38 points 2 days ago

If you blindly follow a Democratic Voting Guide, you're not "very progressive." Probably not even "kind of progressive."

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 45 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ohio passed a law this year banning state funds to any municipality that implemented ranked choise voting. Only one or two representatives voted against it. The only bi-partisan bill they passed thos year

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 28 points 2 days ago

Yeah, politicians are scared of anything that will disrupt their power structure.

[–] mishmish@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Happened in Massachusetts in 2020 too. Absolutely insane that people don't realize how much better RCV is

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

It really does show that 1) People in general aren't very smart. Most people won't do some basic research to see what they're voting for. And 2) Most people are just going to vote how their party tells them.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The problem with the two party system, is the only thing they'll always agree on is that it should remain a two party system.

We had the same issue in the UK. We had the choice of something else and it was dismissed as "too complicated" and "too expensive".

So instead most of us have their votes thrown out locally, and then most of the rest have them thrown out nationally.

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[–] Tinidril@midwest.social 6 points 1 day ago

including a plethora of unions

If there iwas anything that pissed me off more than the Democrats abandoning support for workers it was union leadership doing so.

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[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Not new at all.

[–] Flipper@feddit.org 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The first step to get the voting fixed shouldn't be ranked voting. It should be getting rid of winner takes it all. If a party gets 40% of the votes, and there are 10 representatives, it should get 4 of them, not 0.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago (3 children)

What would happens is Dem states will do proportional allocation, republican states would stick with winner take all, and you end up with a permanent republican presidency.

States run elections, states also get to decide how to allocate their electors.

Anything short of a constitutional amendment will not work.

[–] KelvarCherry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is talking about the Democratic Primary. What you're saying is definitely true if we were changing the allocation of Electoral College votes for the general election -- for that, we need Congress to pass an Amendment (or maybe a regular law would suffice?)

[–] Lyrl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That probably requires congrsssional approval. And even then, that last until the supreme court strikes it down. Or even if it doesn't gwt struck down, its unclear if the next congress have the ability to revoke the previous session of congress's approval of the interstate compact.

So many shenanigans.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 5 points 1 day ago

You can solve that with state compacts which go into force when you hit a threshold where that's not a risk

[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

the electoral college experiment should be abandoned. It clearly didn't serve the function it was intended to serve when it was implemented 200 years ago.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It actually largely has. It both reduced the numbers of people who needed to ride horses around to figure out the winner, and it helped keep power consolidated with the powerful.

A good chunk of our early democratic institutions were designed with a lot of influence by people who didn't entirely trust their constituency and wanted to keep things from being too democratic. So you have several options for elected officials to disregard voters in most matters, and the president has the power to say "nah" to legislation.

[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Okay, but the entire idea was to allow the electors to basically go against the will of the people, if the people are a bunch of idiots and elect a despot wannabe. And when a despot wannabe actually got elected, the electors didn't go against the idiot electorate.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 2 points 19 hours ago

Well, they didn't specifically feel concern for them electing a despot. They were concerned simply that they might pick wrong from the viewpoint of those with political power at the time. They weren't specifically afraid of a despot or demagogue, but someone who would either threaten the political elites wellbeing, or loosing support from the "less populous" slave states. A system that gives disproportionate weight to smaller states to buy their support while also giving themselves more influence over a check on the legislature and one of the branches of power is what they went with.

They weren't afraid of Trump, they were concerned about Lincoln.

Now all electors are party loyalists chosen by their party, nobody aint doing any faithless defection.

[–] Aljernon@lemmy.today 30 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It'll be an uphill battle since Ranked Choice Voting would weaken the power of both Democrats & Republicans and party leadership knows it but I also support it strongly for just that reason.

[–] stickyShift@midwest.social 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This is just for the Democratic primary, not the general election - but the same idea applies there, as it weakens the ability of the party leadership to choose who wins

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

Party Leadership dont get to be our scapegoat, the US People chose Hillary and Biden over Bernie by massive numbers.

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[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 29 points 2 days ago

Jesus fuck finally.

This is how we get rid of the one party system.

[–] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 19 points 2 days ago

It boils down to this: If you support the direct will of the people in choosing a candidate, you probably like RCV. If you want the party to have significant influence in choosing a candidate, you probably don't like RCV.

It is possible the Democrats are realizing that their establishment selected candidates are not competitive against modern Republicans.
It's also possible they are considering somebody more radical but want plausible deniability about how that person came to be elected.
Or it's possible they are just out of ideas. Or maybe all three...

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