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Voter turnout is always low in primary elections, and Tuesday was an extreme example. Ranked choice voting is one idea that could boost turnout and decrease partisanship and negative campaigning.

Illinois might go for “ranked choice voting” in the next presidential primaries - in which voters can name follow-up choices if their favorite candidate drops out.

Chicago just got through another election cycle. The February election saw nine, count ‘em, nine candidates for mayor and scores of aldermanic hopefuls. Then on Tuesday, we did it all over again for those races, including the mayoral contest, after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote on Feb. 28. What if there were a different way? What if you could rank your choices in order of your preference?

Election access and integrity are two of the most important issues facing our democracy, which is why I've supported increased access to early voting and vote by mail, and now the next step in election reform, Ranked Choice Voting. That's why I'm championing legislation to adopt RCV in presidential primaries in Illinois.

Under RCV, voters have the option to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third and so on. If their first choice is not viable, their vote counts for their highest-ranked candidate who is. The ability to rank backup choices ensures that voters’ voices are heard and makes sure no one wastes their vote. In addition, RCV ballots are easy to audit, which improves election security.

Illinoisans may some day take part in a new way of voting for their elected officials, but not everyone is on board with the idea. A new Illinois law will create a task force to explore options of ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting allows voters to select their candidates in order from their top choice to their bottom.

I am an engineer, which means I am a professional problem-solver. I’m a mother, too, so I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the problems looming for my small children as they grow into adulthood. Will they have fish in their oceans? Will they be safe from violence? Will they have access to decent jobs? It’s been overwhelming to figure out where to start until I settled onto a solution that addresses all these concerns...

Illinois is rich with task forces and commissions. They may not move quickly or meet deadlines, but the work they do is foundational.

There is a counter to brute partisanship. Political reforms such as top-five open primaries and ranked choice voting bring greater focus on moderate candidates and common-ground policies that represent majority views. Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter's book, Why Competition in the Politics Industry is Failing America: A Strategy for Reinvigorating our Democracy, has inspiring solutions to these problems.

Alaska is a good example. RCV was adopted there in 2020 as the result of a statewide referendum. In the 2022 election for U.S. representative, Mary Peltola, a Democrat, got 49% of first place votes. She eventually won against Sarah Palin, a Republican, because there were sufficient voters for Nick Begich, a Republican, who preferred Peltola to Palin as their second choice when he was eliminated in the final round.

At the root of this dysfunction is a political system that exists to sustain the status quo, not build toward the future. The Democratic and Republican parties play the political game so well that only a handful of places in the U.S. experience truly competitive elections. Everywhere else, there’s essentially no way to hold party power in check.

On Nov. 7, 11 cities across six states used ranked choice voting in their elections, including Boulder, Colorado, which used it for the first time to elect its mayor. Ten more cities -- including Salt Lake City -- were using ranked choice voting when Utah held its elections Nov. 21.

In this episode of "The Middle with Jeremy Hobson," we're asking whether or not you think democracy itself is at stake in the 2024 election - or if those fears are overblown. Jeremy is joined by Maricopa County, Arizona Supervisor Bill Gates and Vernon Burton, a voting rights expert and professor of history at Clemson University. The Middle's house DJ Tolliver joins as well, plus callers from around the country.

"Ranked choice voting is the hot reform," said Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota. "It's being driven by deep, almost existential panic about the demise of American democracy. People are looking around what's going to respond to this. And ranked choice voting is the 'it' reform at this moment."