Two Legislative democrats would like to see Wisconsin move to a ranked choice voting system.
State Representative Mark Spreitzer says the change would allow people to not only vote for who they would hope to win, but also who they prefer to win.
“And if your first choice comes in last, and really can’t possibly win, they’re eliminated but now we look at who your second choice was and that candidate gets your vote and we see if somebody gets to 50 percent plus 1 there.”
Spritzer says that as it stands, people may want to vote for a third party candidate, but can’t for fear of someone else they really don’t want winning the election.
“And that process be repeated if there are a lot of candidates with the person getting the least votes eliminated, but instead of those voters not really having a chance to weigh in on the election, their votes go to their second or third choice and so on.”
He says the method ensures that whoever wins an election really does have the approval of a majority of residents and creates more fairness in an election. It’s unclear if the bill will see the floor in either the Assembly or the Senate.