this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2025
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Democratic activists are looking to overhaul the party’s presidential primary process with ranked-choice voting.

Proponents of the idea have privately met with Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and other leading party officials who want to see ranked-choice voting in action for 2028. Those behind the push include Representative Jamie Raskin, the nonprofit Fairvote Action, and Joe Biden pollster Celinda Lake. 

Axios reports that ranked-choice supporters told a DNC breakfast meeting in D.C. that they believe it would unify and strengthen the party, prevent votes from being “wasted” after candidates withdraw, and encourage candidates to build coalitions. The publication quotes DNC members as being divided on the issue, with some being open and others thinking that it is best left to state parties.

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 114 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

Could we also make it so primaries don’t take six months? I’ve never voted in a presidential primary where my vote affected the outcome at all because every state I’ve lived in was late in the schedule.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 40 points 20 hours ago (4 children)

Then what is the media going to talk about for 6 months?

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 33 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

Don’t get me started on the electoral-media complex that makes our elections too damn long.

If we’re making impossible demands on the system I’d also include 60 day election cycles. No political advertising or campaigning more than two months before the election.

But I’m a bad American who hates the GDP.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago

It all comes down to the political parties. Which is partly why our elections suck so much.

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Same here, it's such bullshit. Then people scold me when I complain as if I didn't go to the primaries when typically it's the primary that doesn't come to me. How dare I not go vote for someone who already conceded, I must be what's wrong with democracy.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 9 points 17 hours ago

Oh but don't you want to know first which Democrat places like Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas would like? You know, those bastions of democracy.

/s, like it's needed lol.

[–] arrow74@lemmy.zip 3 points 15 hours ago (5 children)

I kinda get why they drag it out, it allows canidates to respond to the electorate better.

My suggestion would be to make it take 3 months and divide the delegates evenly between all 3. Hell let Iowa be a week early. Plus with ranked choice if a canidate drops out those votes can be reallocated

I do just feel like there's something about these long races that allow us to get a much better idea of who a canidate is. Once they begin to feel the pressure they start to change.

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[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 57 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (6 children)

I just want to point out that Ranked-Choice Voting was on the ballot in Colorado in 2024. It ultimately failed because it was opposed by both parties. I was surprised, because I talked through the issues with a friend who considered herself "very progressive" she mentioned she was against Ranked-Choice Voting because her Democratic Voting Guide recommended voting against it.

From https://tsscolorado.com/colorado-voters-easily-reject-ranked-choice-voting/

...it angered both Democratic and Republican party leaders and drew opposition from prominent Democratic backers, including a plethora of unions, progressive groups and some environmental organizations.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 38 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Ohio passed a law this year banning state funds to any municipality that implemented ranked choise voting. Only one or two representatives voted against it. The only bi-partisan bill they passed thos year

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 22 points 16 hours ago

Yeah, politicians are scared of anything that will disrupt their power structure.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 29 points 15 hours ago

If you blindly follow a Democratic Voting Guide, you're not "very progressive." Probably not even "kind of progressive."

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 14 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

The problem with the two party system, is the only thing they'll always agree on is that it should remain a two party system.

We had the same issue in the UK. We had the choice of something else and it was dismissed as "too complicated" and "too expensive".

So instead most of us have their votes thrown out locally, and then most of the rest have them thrown out nationally.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 3 points 11 hours ago

You mean one party system.

[–] arrow74@lemmy.zip 11 points 15 hours ago

Following a democratic voting guide has got to be the least progressive you can be as a Democrat

[–] punkideas@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

It was combined with a top 4 jungle primary that was not ranked choice, which was why a lot of people who might have voted for it otherwise voted against it. It looked like a way to implement ranked choice while creating a system where less moderate candidates would be eliminated in the primary.

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[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 33 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (3 children)

Missouri tricked people into banning it by making it sound like they were banning non-citizens from casting multiple votes and the dumb dumbs who don’t read anything just voted for it.

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

  • Make the Constitution consistent with state law by only allowing citizens of the United States to vote;
  • Prohibit the ranking of candidates by limiting voters to a single vote per candidate or issue; and
  • Require the plurality winner of a political party primary to be the single candidate at a general election?

https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2024-11-05/missouri-amendment-7-ranked-choice-voting-noncitizen

MO GOP had a long history of getting illiterate voters to vote against themselves with shade language. Voters approved an anti-gerrymandering amendment but GOP put confusing language on the ballot, a year later, that tricked voters into cancelling that out.

A judge had to step in on the abortion ballot proposal because they tried to do it again. Thankfully, the judge made them out clear language on it. Unfortunately, they are trying it again with abortion next year.

https://www.kmbc.com/article/missouri-abortions-judge-approves-ballot-language/68915245

[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

I didn’t vote for it because I can read

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Lol I made a showerthoughts post about how its such a wonderful thing that global literacy rates are rising... then these shit happens...

🤦‍♂️

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[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 24 points 11 hours ago

Jesus fuck finally.

This is how we get rid of the one party system.

[–] Aljernon@lemmy.today 24 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

It'll be an uphill battle since Ranked Choice Voting would weaken the power of both Democrats & Republicans and party leadership knows it but I also support it strongly for just that reason.

[–] stickyShift@midwest.social 18 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

This is just for the Democratic primary, not the general election - but the same idea applies there, as it weakens the ability of the party leadership to choose who wins

[–] SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 17 points 14 hours ago

It boils down to this: If you support the direct will of the people in choosing a candidate, you probably like RCV. If you want the party to have significant influence in choosing a candidate, you probably don't like RCV.

It is possible the Democrats are realizing that their establishment selected candidates are not competitive against modern Republicans.
It's also possible they are considering somebody more radical but want plausible deniability about how that person came to be elected.
Or it's possible they are just out of ideas. Or maybe all three...

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 16 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

Crazy idea. What if the Democratic primary was actually a democracy? Let the candidate who wins the most states with an electoral weight be the candidate.

[–] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 5 points 18 hours ago

Make them open. Make then count. Make them accountable.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Good news!

The voting members of the DNC agreed with you 8 months ago when they elected a chair with a decade long track record of fair primaries and then putting the full weight of the party behind every candidate in the general.

We're also very unlikely to see a push to consolidate behind a "winner" after only a handful of states vote.

I don't think the current DNC chair has ever weighed in on any primary. Even for Mamdani he waited till the day after the primary. And Martin loves Mamdani almost as much as trump does.

So we can expect neutrality till the very last state reports their primary result.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 4 points 19 hours ago (8 children)

So they plan to kill super delegates?

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Super delegates only vote in the second round. That's been on the books since 2020. Sure, it doesn't remove them entirely, but you just need to have the majority of pledged delegates for it to not matter.

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[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Let all the states vote before declaring a winner. I've never voted in a primary with more than one active candidate.

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[–] butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social 9 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Interesting given that in the recent past the Democratic Party opposed implementing RCV 👀.

[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I'm still betting they oppose it. They're just not in power right now. The second they have a majority again all RCV initiative stops. Maybe a state or two flips over to RCV in the mean time if we're lucky.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 6 points 11 hours ago

Yeah, they know the progressives will beat them if they allow rcv

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 17 hours ago

I'll believe it when I see it.

[–] Cyberflunk@lemmy.world 8 points 3 hours ago

ABOUT FUCKING TIME

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago

I mean, Ken was for it when he ran Minnesota...

I don't know why he wouldn't be for it now.

[–] FE80@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago

Democrats will ratfuck progressives under any ruleset.

[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

Just gotta make the dumbasses in the Pedo Party to think Ranked Choice is somehow good for them, or that they came up with the idea.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 4 points 15 hours ago

Send mayor Mamdani to the White House again. He did well in that cesspool last time.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 3 points 15 hours ago

It is good for the voters.

Just not the establishment politicians clothing to their power and wealth

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[–] Flipper@feddit.org 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The first step to get the voting fixed shouldn't be ranked voting. It should be getting rid of winner takes it all. If a party gets 40% of the votes, and there are 10 representatives, it should get 4 of them, not 0.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

What would happens is Dem states will do proportional allocation, republican states would stick with winner take all, and you end up with a permanent republican presidency.

States run elections, states also get to decide how to allocate their electors.

Anything short of a constitutional amendment will not work.

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[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

It would only work if they converted to a national vote, instead of state by state elections with individual ranked choice votes.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 3 points 11 hours ago

Both. We need to outloaw fptp. Usually these things happen by States first, then its forced on the holdouts by the feds

That's how we got woman the right to vote.

[–] Fuctangle@sh.itjust.works 5 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

STAR voting is simpler and

peer-reviewed, topping the charts in all studies of accuracy and representativeness.

https://www.starvoting.org/

[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Star is way worse at preventing gaming the system because if your favorite candidate is one of the less likely to win, mathematically you shouldn't rank anyone else even 1 star or your vote may be the reason your most favorite candidate loses by ensuring someone less favorable to you wins. If you made me vote on STAR id literally never rank an establishment candidate ever, my ballot wouldn't change at all from how it looks now and neither would any of the people who want smaller candidates to win and know how math works.

I used to run then elections in the organization I was a part of. Just use Scottish RCV it's better and with plenty real world tests and results.

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Does Israel approve? Doubt it because then they’d have to buy more politicians from new political parties with our tax dollars

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