At an event in WLH on Monday, Adam Wood and Monte Frank explained how they are working to expand ranked-choice voting in the state.
Jason Cao
Staff Writer, The Buckley Beacon
On Monday evening, Yale Students for Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) hosted Adam Wood, the former director of the Connecticut Democratic Party, and Monte Frank, former president of the Connecticut Bar Association, to speak about the importance of electoral reform in reducing political polarization.
Wood was also the former campaign manager for Governor Ned Lamont, and Monte Frank was an independent candidate for lieutenant governor of Connecticut in 2018. Wood and Frank are both supporters of ranked-choice voting and are involved in Connecticut Voters First, a pro-ranked-choice voting advocacy group, in lobbying the state legislature to introduce ranked-choice voting for municipal elections. They took turns speaking to the 20 or so students gathered for the event in William L. Harkness Hall.
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) is an alternative voting system to the plurality system used in most American elections. In the plurality system, voters select only one candidate, and the winner of an election is whoever receives the highest number of votes, regardless of whether he or she wins a majority of the votes. Under an RCV system, voters rank the candidates in order of preference. The candidate with the lowest number of first-preference votes is eliminated, and his or her votes are allocated according to the second choices of the voters. This process repeats until one candidate receives a majority of votes, thereby winning the election.
Wood and Frank outlined multiple benefits of ranked-choice voting, stating that it allows voters to express their honest preferences, encourages civility, and promotes moderate candidates with broad popular appeal.
Frank identified closed party primaries with plurality voting to be the key problem in our democracy, because it empowers extreme voices on both sides of the political spectrum and thereby disincentivizes compromise. “I think the primary problem is the number one problem for our democracy. If you break with your party, you are going to get primaried. Unless we change the system, we are not going to see movement on gun violence, immigration, climate change, housing.”
Instead, he believes that by holding party primaries with ranked-choice voting, candidates will be encouraged to reach out to a wider range of voters and use more inclusive and positive campaign tactics. “It’s not ‘Adam sucks, don’t vote for him,’” Frank explained, it’s “Adam and I agree [on certain key issues], will you consider me for your second choice.”
Aside from improving civility, Frank also stressed how RCV can increase diversity and representation, citing the example of New York City’s adoption of RCV for party primaries. “The city council turned from white male-dominated to majority of women and more representation for women than the past 100 years of existence.”
Adam Wood echoed Frank’s perspectives on the importance of ranked-choice voting in promoting compromise. “Democrats and Republicans [used to] work together and hang out together. Things are so polarized that there really is no common ground.” He believes that ranked-choice voting can revitalize our democracy by promoting moderation and compromise.
Wood also highlighted Senate Bill No. 1536, a bill considered in the Connecticut General Assembly that would allow municipalities and political parties to use ranked-choice voting if they choose to opt in. He emphasized that this bill would allow individual cities to act as laboratories of democracy and experiment with whether RCV works for their locality. Opponents of the bill contend that it would add complexity to the voting process and potentially disenfranchise less-informed voters.
Michelle Lin (YC ’29), who attended the event, supported the speakers. “I think it’s definitely a compelling form of electoral reform. I was honestly quite convinced by their argument that RCV would reduce polarization,” Lin told The Buckley Beacon. “I still don’t have any particularly bold opinions on RCV, but I do think that the growing polarization in our nation demands reforms that allow for greater consensus—and I think the work they’re doing is especially meaningful in that regard.”
Connecticut lags behind other states in introducing new voting reforms, being one of the last states to approve early voting. It still has not implemented a ranked-choice voting system in any elections.
On November 4, many Connecticut residents will have the opportunity to vote in municipal elections for mayors and alders.