In a special election for a U.S. House seat in 2010, Hawaii voters were confronted with a list of 14 candidates. More than 170,000 votes were cast. But in this winner-take-all race, the victor was Republican Charles Djou, with 67,610 votes, or 39%. The two runners-up, Democrats Colleen Hanabusa and Ed Case, together collected just over 100,000 votes.
Again that same year, 14 candidates vied in a special election for a vacant seat on the Honolulu City Council. Tom Berg, with 2,326 votes, won a race in which more than 12,000 votes were cast.
Were these election results fair? Yes. Did they reflect what a majority of voters really wanted? Probably not. In subsequent regular elections, both Djou and Berg lost their bids to keep their seats.
Such results are the impetus behind Senate Bill 2162, which would introduce ranked-choice voting (RCV) to certain Hawaii special elections beginning in 2023. RCV allows voters to rank the candidates by preference, the goal being to ensure that in a race with multiple candidates, the one with the majority of votes — not just a plurality — wins the race.
Other states use RCV, and it’s worth testing here. RCV gives voters more ways to make their vote count. And in a crowded race, candidates can improve their chances by working harder to woo voters.
Still, there are caveats.
First, it’s more complicated. In a ranked-choice system, voters rank the candidates in a particular race rather than voting for just one. If a candidate is ranked first on more than 50% of the ballots, he or she wins. If not, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated, and the votes are tallied again.
While a voter’s first choice may be eliminated, their second choice will be counted in the next round. The tallying process continues until one candidate receives a majority of the vote and is declared the winner.
The state Office of Elections must ensure that voters know how to fill out their ballot and know how their vote will be counted, so they can make accurate choices.
Second, RCV is no substitute for regular party-driven elections, in which voters get two chances: the primary election to weed out the weaker candidates, and the general to make a final choice. SB 2162 prudently limits RCV to certain special, one-time elections to fill untimely vacancies in federal contests held outside regularly scheduled primary and general elections, and county council special elections. For the moment, that’s enough.
SB 2162 was sent to the governor, and he should sign it. Let’s see if our elections can be improved.
