Two states: Ranked choice voting tricky

As Idaho voters get ready to consider whether to implement ranked choice voting via ballot initiative this November, supporters and opponents have been looking to the other entitles that use the process statewide to try and predict how it might go in the Gem State. Around 50 voting jurisdictions use the process nationwide, NPR reported, including two states.

Supporters have lauded Alaska and Maine’s use of the voting method as a success that ensures the candidates who won their seats had the support from the majority of voters, while opponents have argued the systems have been confusing and difficult to implement.

Questions have centered on how Idaho would count the ballots, how the state would educate voters about the new process, and whether voters would adequately understand the process and how results are achieved.

Maine first used ranked choice voting in 2018, but because of restrictions in the state’s constitution, the process is only used in primary elections and federal general elections.

Implementing it came with a series of challenges, former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap told the Idaho Press, and the state’s Legislature chose not to appropriate more funds to the office for it.

“They either hated ranked choice voting or they hated me,” Dunlap said. “I’m agnostic on this, it’s just another way of electing people, but we have to be able to run it.”

The state ultimately spent $441,804 in 2018 on start-up costs, and the primary and general elections, according to information from the Maine Secretary of State’s Office.

In Idaho, it may be significantly more costly to implement the system if voters approve of the Open Primaries initiative. Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane recently told lawmakers in a letter that he estimates it could cost between $25 million to $40 million to implement a new system to be able to tabulate ranked choice election results. Supporters of the initiative argue there’s a lower-cost alternative that McGrane is not considering.

If the Open Primaries Initiative passed, voters of any political party would be allowed to vote in the primary contest and the top four vote-getters would advance to the general election.

Voters could then choose the winner in a general election with instant runoff voting, also known as ranked choice voting, which allows voters to select a top candidate and rank additional candidates in order of preference.

After the first choices of all ballots are counted, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated. Votes for the eliminated candidate will be counted toward the voters’ next choice — this process repeats until two candidates remain and the one with the most votes will win.

Alaskan voters approved an initiative in 2020 to create a ranked choice voting general election system in a model similar to what Idaho will consider.

So far, the state has only used the system once in 2022 and will again in the upcoming November election.

“We conducted an extensive media campaign including flyers with instructions, videos, PSA’s and multiple other media outlets,” Director of the Alaska Division of Elections Carol Beecher said in an email. “We also had mock RCV (ranked choice voting) to let the public practice.”

She said the state spent a total of about $3 million in advertising and education.

Beecher said the office doesn’t know if voters were confused or if the perception has shifted on the system. She said that, anecdotally, the office has heard of some confusion.

A poll commissioned by nonprofit supporters of ranked choice voting found that 85% of Alaskan voters in the 2022 election considered the system simple. The poll surveyed 1,200 voters, with 33.8% registered Republicans, 15.6% Democrats and the rest were “no party” or “undeclared.”

Maine’s election officer had a much smaller budget, but ended up purchasing software to create an animated video to explain the process, and election officials drove around the state to explain it at forums.

“It was really intuitive,” Dunlap said. “The voters were not confused by this.”

Judy Meyer, executive editor of the Maine newspaper Kennebec Journal, said voters were not confused but at times “suspicious” of results.

“People generally understood they were to choose candidates in order of preference, but the counting process had to be explained again and again and some people remained suspicious that the results were accurate,” Meyer wrote in an email. “That was particularly true in the first year it was implemented when newcomer Jared Golden received fewer votes than sitting Congressman Bruce Poliquin in the first round, but when the ballots were counted in the second round — after the third party was eliminated — Golden was declared the winner.”

Alaska and Maine had an advantage over Idaho in implementation because both states used statewide vote tabulation systems that were capable of doing the ranked choice tabulation process. Idaho’s counties use different systems and the two softwares that are certified for use in the Gem State are not capable of the ranked choice process.

Elections are also administered differently in Alaska and Maine than Idaho; Alaska does not have county government, and the state Division of Elections administers the elections.

Maine had invested in creating a uniform vote tabulation system prior to the ranked choice voter initiative passing, Dunlap said. The system in use also had the capability to run the algorithm to count the results.

“That made life a lot easier,” he said.

He noted that Idaho needing to purchase new systems may cost more money, and there will also be logistical implications for the secretary of state to figure out.

“No matter who wins or who loses,” Dunlap said, “the voters really got to have confidence in it.”

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.