Democrats sure do fancy themselves the defenders of democracy, even though they repeatedly prove that they really don't like democracy all that much—especially when they don't win. There hasn't been a presidential election in 20 years that they haven't challenged the results of. But that's okay in their book. It's only when Republicans question the results of a suspicious election that it's somehow an assault on democracy. The truth is, they're always scheming to fix elections to tip the scales in their favor.
In 2021, they pushed bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the For the People Act—legislation designed to federalize election laws and erode election integrity. These proposals would mandate universal mail-in voting, allow ballots to be counted long after Election Day, and even dismantle the Electoral College. If Harris wins the presidency and Democrats hold the Senate while reclaiming the House, they’ll undoubtedly try again—and this time, they could succeed. Some efforts won't be so easy, so naturally, they have a backup plan. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wants to impose ranked-choice voting for U.S. congressional elections nationwide.
This week, Raskin, along with fellow Democrat Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, reintroduced their Ranked Choice Voting Act in the House. Over in the Senate, Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced a similar bill, signaling a coordinated effort to bring ranked-choice voting to both the House and Senate elections across all states.
"The legislation would require ranked choice voting (RCV) in all congressional primary and general elections starting in 2028, allowing voters to express support for multiple candidates for public office, with the candidate receiving the most votes declared the winner," explains a press release from Rankin's office.
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Ranked-choice voting undermines the "one person, one vote" principle by allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate secures more than half of the first-choice votes, he wins—just like a traditional election. However, if no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and his supporters' ballots are redistributed to their second-choice candidates. The process continues until one candidate eventually wins with more than half the votes.
“Ranked choice voting focuses American elections and campaigns on coalition-building,” claims Raskin. “Our legislation incentivizes candidates to reach a broader range of the voting public, making our electoral process more democratic, more positive, more efficient and more representative—and our Congress too.”
Make no mistake about it. This isn't about making elections more democratic; this is about upending solidly red districts and states by manipulating the voting process to help Democrats win elections they'd otherwise lose.
This system allows votes for third-party or less popular Republican candidates to be transferred to Democrats as the rounds progress, effectively weakening the Republican vote. How do we know this? Well, this is exactly how things played out in Alaska, where Democrat Mary Peltola won a House seat in a deep red state that she otherwise wouldn't have been able to win.
"Ranked choice voting offers an opportunity to break through polarization and strengthen our democracy by ensuring that our elected candidates have received the broad support of the folks they’ll represent,” said Sen. Welch. “This pro-democracy bill will make our elections more equitable, more civil, and more representative.”
How has that worked, exactly? Peltola represents a deep red state yet has a conservative score of 18%, according to Heritage Action, and as of January 2023, voted with Biden 95% of the time. Does that sound like she's representing the voters? Of course it doesn't, which is why ranked choice voting is up for repeal in November.
This bill may be going nowhere, but if Democrats ever get back in power again, they'll definitely try it.
Never let your guard down.
