Ranked Choice Voting in Washington’s Future

The Washington State Democratic Party did the right thing for democracy at their convention in late June. At their state party convention, Washington Democrats passed a resolution supporting the use of ranked-choice voting for Washington’s presidential primaries. Using ranked-choice voting will mean that every voter’s vote will matter because right now, that just isn’t the case.

In March 2020, over two million people cast their votes for presidential candidates in Washington. It was the highest turnout for that contest in the past three cycles. It was also a record setting year here in the Evergreen State. Washington State Democrats had the highest rate of “wasted” votes out of any state in the nation. One in four of the 1,558,782 ballots cast for Democratic candidates, or 397,340 votes, could not be used to allocate votes to delegates. Popular candidates dropped out of the race between the time ballots were mailed and election day. Ostensibly, these voters could have skipped voting entirely and had the same say in who was chosen as the Democratic Presidential nominee. 

Disenfranchising any voter is unacceptable. In a time when our communities face the very real threats of climate change, being stripped of bodily autonomy, having our identities weaponized, and dismantling democracy, every vote needs to impact the outcome. Using ranked-choice voting, Washington voters would never have to choose between the lesser of two evils. Using ranked-choice voting, Washington voters would be free to express their nuanced, valid opinions about who they would like to see win the party nomination.

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In 2024, many Democratic voters were given another unfair choice: vote for a candidate you fundamentally disagree with, vote for a candidate who has “no chance to win,” or vote Uncommitted and forgo your opportunity to have a direct say in choosing the presidential nominee of your party. Moreover, many voters and activists championing the Uncommitted Delegate campaign were shamed for weakening their party. Voters should never be admonished for voting their beliefs. In fact, that is the underlying intention of democracy! Washington Voters deserve to be able to vote in a system that incentivizes participation and true representation, like ranked-choice voting.

We know that RCV works for presidential primaries because it has been tried and tested in several other states, and is ready to come to Washington. In 2020, after Washington’s frustratingly inaccurate election outcomes, Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, Kansas, and Nevada opted to use ranked-choice voting for their presidential primaries to ensure that every vote that was cast and counted mattered. After using RCV for down-ballot elections successfully for several years, Maine successfully premiered using RCV for presidential primaries in 2024. These states demonstrate to us that RCV is a tool to expand democracy.

Critics of ranked-choice voting mostly come from far-right thinkers. Several states with Republican-led legislatures like Florida and Tennessee have banned ranked-choice voting, along with other voter-suppressing democracy reforms. Organizations against RCV care more to control democracy than free it to give voters true self-determination. Ranked-choice voting does not favor any party, but does favor the will of the people. 

Politics isn’t showing any signs of becoming less polarizing and divisive. We need system reforms that change the conditions we vote in so that we can change the conditions we live in. The 2028 presidential primary will be here before we know it, and we deserve to be in a position to vote our respective truths knowing our voice will be heard in a meaningful way. 

It’s time for the Democrats in the Washington State Legislature to listen to the call of the people—and their party—and pass legislation so that Washington voters can choose their next presidential nominees using ranked-choice voting.