Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rick Hubbard, of South Burlington, who is a retired attorney and former economic consultant.
On March 3 Vermonters will head to our polling places to select our choice in Vermont’s primary for U.S. president. Take a moment to consider the effects of Vermont’s current voting system versus the alternative of ranked choice voting on your primary vote as well as on the votes of all other Vermonters.
Based on our 2016 presidential primary vote turnout, somewhere in the neighborhood of 197,000 Vermont voters will chose either a Republican (62,000+ voters last time) or a Democratic (135,000+ voters last time) ballot. Depending on which ballot we choose, we will cast our vote for one of either 13 Democratic candidates or three Republican ones.
Vermont has a certain number of pledged delegates for candidates for president that are allocated for use at the Democratic or Republican conventions based on the result of our votes on either of these ballots in the primary. Each party sets its own rules for selecting delegates, subject to state election law.
For example, if we choose the Democratic party ballot, and although polls are changing fast, if our Vermont primary votes were to match the Feb. 11 New Hampshire primary results, only three candidates, totaling 69.9% of votes, will come in above the 15% threshold to qualify for getting delegates; Sanders – 25.7%, Buttigieg – 24.4%, and Klobuchar – 19.8%. All others, including Warren – 9.2% and Biden – 8.4%, would come out below the 15% threshold.
We, the remaining 30.1% of all Vermont voters (some 39,130 Vermonters in this hypothetical) who cast our votes for these candidates with less than 15% will have no say whatsoever in which candidate is awarded delegates to vote in the Democratic Convention that begins July 13 in Milwaukee. Our votes simply won’t count directly toward delegates. Instead, the national Democratic Party has decided for us and will allocate our votes to delegates according to their choice, not as we might choose to do if we had a second choice.
For example, suppose you or I were one of the 11,340 (8.4% of 135,000 Democratic primary voters) Vermonters who voted for Joe Biden. According to rules of the DNC-Democratic National Committee, our 11,340 votes will be reallocated proportionately among only those three candidates totaling 69.9% of all Democratic primary votes, who received votes above 15% (Sanders, Buttigieg and Klobuchar). If, for example, you initially voted for Joe Biden, how do you feel about the lion’s share of your vote going to Bernie Sanders?
Wouldn’t you rather make that choice yourself? Isn’t it our job to pick candidates, rather than the DNC’s?
Alternatively, if we choose the Republican party ballot and one candidate, say Donald Trump, receives 50% or more of Republican primary ballot votes, all of Vermont’s delegates to the Republican Convention are initially bound to him when it meets Aug. 24-27, in Charlotte, North Carolina. If no candidate receives 50% or more, the statewide delegates are proportionally bound to those candidates receiving at least 20% of the statewide vote. In the unlikely event no candidate receives 20%, the threshold is 15%. If no candidate receives 15%, the threshold is 10%. The RNC-Republican National Committee rules for those under the threshold raise the same issue as for Democrats.
We Vermonters would gain more control over our primary vote if our Legislature required ranked choice voting in the presidential primary. Using RCV ensures that with 13 candidates on the Democratic ballot and three on the Republican, no one can emerge victorious until they have the support of at least half of all Vermonters who voted that ballot. Instead of the DNC or RNC deciding how one candidate might win, we voters would decide that outcome.
With RCV, we voters would rank the candidates from our first choice through our last choice. If no candidate wins at least half of first choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and the second choices of those who voted for that candidate are reallocated to the second choices of those voters. The process repeats until someone wins an absolute majority. This gives all Vermont primary voters more control over the effects of our vote, regardless of which party ballot we choose.
While there are bills in both the Vermont House and Senate for differing uses of ranked choice voting in Vermont’s federal and state elections, they are not moving fast and there is no pending bill for its use in our presidential primary.
We Vermonters must find ways to strengthen our democracy at a time when democracy is under threat nationally. Using ranked choice voting strengthens one piece of that puzzle.
So which Vermont legislators of both parties will support such legislation so that we citizens who support RCV, and strengthening our democracy, can support them in their efforts?
