Nevada, Fix Our Political System with Question 3
Ranked-choice voting and open primaries are a step in the right direction to save America.
It’s no question that the American political system has pressing problems that need to be fixed. In the past 30 years, the percentage of Americans with unfavorable views of both political parties has increased from about 6% to a whopping 27% in 2022. An AP-NORC survey from June of this year found that 85% of Americans believe their country is heading in the wrong direction, compared to just 49% at the beginning of 2021. According to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 93% of Americans say that their political system needs some sort of change or reform.
Essentially, no one is happy.
This year, Nevadans have the opportunity to approve a ballot measure that has the potential to fix one of the biggest sources of Americans’ dissatisfaction: our two-party electoral system. I am voting “Yes” on Question 3 to help reduce polarization, improve representation, and give voters better options. Here’s why you should vote “Yes” too.
Nevada Question 3
So what exactly is Question 3? Here’s how it will appear on your ballot:
Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended to allow all Nevada voters the right to participate in open primary elections to choose candidates for the general election in which all voters may then rank the remaining candidates by preference for the offices of U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Controller, Attorney General, and State Legislators?
It’s a long, somewhat confusing question, but there are two main parts: open primaries and ranked choice voting.
Open Primaries:
Currently in Nevada, and most other states, our elections begin with a closed primary system. This means that each party holds a primary election to select their nominees for each elected office, and only members of that party can vote in the primary. The nominee for each party is then put on the general election ballot.
If Question 3 passes, there will only be one primary election in which all voters, regardless of party registration, are allowed to participate. Each voter would vote for their top candidate, and the top five candidates who received the greatest amount of votes would advance to the general election. In this system, there would not necessarily be just one candidate nominated by each party. Instead, you could have any combination of candidates from various parties like three Republicans and two Democrats, one Republican and four Libertarians, or five Democrats, or any such combination.
Ranked Choice Voting:
Our general elections currently operate as single-choice, plurality rules elections. This means that each voter gets to choose their one top candidate for each office, the votes are tallied, and the candidate who received the most votes is declared the winner, even if they did not receive more than 50% of the votes cast.
With ranked choice voting as proposed in Question 3, each voter will be able to rank the five candidates selected in the primary in order of preference. However, if you only want to rank a few of the candidates presented, or even if you want to just vote for your first choice, you can do so.
So how are these ranked choice votes counted? It begins by counting everyone’s first choice. If a candidate got more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they win. However, if none of the candidates reached the 50% threshold, the candidate that got the least amount of votes is eliminated. Then, the second-choice candidates of the voters that voted for the eliminated candidate are added to the totals of the other candidates, and the process is repeated. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, they win. If not, the candidate that received the smallest amount of votes is eliminated, etc. This repeats until a candidate surpasses the 50% threshold and is declared the winner.
Benefits of Question 3
So, how will this help with any of the problems I mentioned above?
First, ranked choice voting guarantees that the winning candidate is preferred to the others by a majority of voters. Under the current plurality system, candidates can win office with minority support. For example, Steve Sisolak was elected governor of Nevada in 2018 even though he received less than 50% of the vote. Ranked choice voting guarantees that the winning candidate is elected with over 50% of voters’ support, without the need for expensive and complicated runoff elections.
Second, ranked choice voting reduces negativity and hostility in elections. Under our current system, candidates are incentivized to vilify their opponent as much as possible to get votes, rather than to campaign positively on their own merits. With ranked choice voting, candidates want to get the second-choice votes of voters who support other candidates. They have an incentive to publicize their own positions and merits, rather than disparage other candidates. When Santa Fe, NM adopted ranked choice voting for its 2018 local election, a study found that about two-thirds of Santa Fe residents noticed that the election was significantly more positive than previous elections.
Finally, this system gives voters more choices. We often lament that our elections seem to be choices between two terrible candidates, and we have to pick the lesser evil. With an open primary system, the Republican and Democratic parties lose their power to gate-keep the candidate selection process, restricting the general election to the candidates with the most money. Instead, everyone, including Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, has a say in the candidates. Republicans in solid blue areas and Democrats in solid red areas can make sure they have candidates that better reflect their opinions. Independents that may not be registered with a political party can actually play a role in choosing the candidates for the general election. Everyone, except for corrupt party operatives, is better off.
It is true that a change to the electoral system of this nature can be difficult to understand at first. Voters may struggle to understand how to fill out their ballots or how the votes are counted. However, the measure, if passed, would not be implemented until 2026, giving voters plenty of time to learn how the new system works. Although it is new, that is no reason to hold voters back from having more of a voice.
This weekend as we prepare for Election Day on Tuesday, I encourage you to consider voting “Yes” on Question 3. This change has the potential to reduce conflict in politics, improve representation, and move America in the right direction.
If you want more information on this particular ballot measure, you can find great information from the Nevada Independent and Ballotpedia.
